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WOMEN IN THE 


BUSINESS WORLD 


OR 

HINTS AND HELPS TO PROSPERITY 

BY ONE OF THEM 



Out of the night that covers me, 
Black as the pit from pole to pole, 
I thank whatever gods may be 
For my unconquerable soul.” 

* * * * * 




“ It matters not how strait the gate, 

How charged with punishments the scroll; 
I am the master of my fate, 

I am the captain of my soul.” 


w 

* 



7-1 


BOSTON: 

ARENA PUBLISHING COMPANY 
Copley Square 
1894 


h 



Copyright, 1894. 

All Rights Reserved. 

ARENA PUBLISHING CO. 


• « » 




EXTRACTS. 


“ Self-support is as much the duty of a woman as of a man. 
The time is past for dividing the virtues. Servile dependence in 
money matters is no longer deemed honorable.” 

“ The best intelligence of our age and country have reached the 
conclusion that woman has a right to earn her own living in any 
business, occupation or profession from which physiological con¬ 
siderations do not exclude her.”— Phillips Brooks. 

No one believes more than I do in every girl being trained to 
have a ‘ career ’ outside of marriage. If I had three girls and 
three boys and could not give trades or professions or business 
training to all, I’d give it to the girls and let the boys depend on 
* marriage ’ or their wits or luck, as girls usually do under our 
present infamous methods.”— Helen H. Gardener. 

The business woman is a nineteenth century production. She 
is honestly proud of her work and of being a link in the great 
chain which keeps the business world moving.— Emma Jacobson.” 

“ In private as well as public economy the wisest foresight pro¬ 
vides for the remotest contingency. Then let every girl spend a 
few years in acquiring a thorough knowledge of some business or 
profession. It was Margaret Fuller who said : ‘ No woman can 
give her hand with dignity, or her heart with loyalty, until she 
has learned to stand alone.’ ” 

“They who maintain that because women are different from 
men, therefore the occupations of the two ought to be different,— 
argue like vexatious disputants who make verbal distinctions for 
real; who do not inquire what is the formal or specific distinction 
indicated by a name, or whether it has any essential bearing on 



BUSINESS WOMEN. 


the matter under discussion. Long-haired men are different from 
bald-heads ; but shall we conclude that if the former are fit to 
make shoes the latter are unfit ? Certainly not; for when we in¬ 
quire into the formal distinction connoted by these words, we 
find that it has no bearing upon such handicraft processes. So, 
again, the formal distinction implied by the terms male, female, 
in the human race as in other animals, lies altogether in the func¬ 
tions of sex and procreation. Now this has no essential bearing 
on the occupations of the adult; nor does it confer on the male 
fitness for one set of occupations—or the female fitness for 
another. 

“We affirm that the arrangements now existing in society 
which restrict all women to a limited number of domestic and 
family functions, are contrary to nature—and that ours are 
founded upon the genuine and real dictates of nature .”—The Re¬ 
public of Plato. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


Opinions of some Eminent Thinkers . iii 

Introduction. 9 

I. 


SELF-SALVATION. 

A Saving Message for all Women—Self-dependence is Salva¬ 
tion from Poverty—Woman as an Individual—The tre¬ 
mendous Significance of some of the Signs of the Times— 
Learning to Stand Alone—What One Woman Says of it— 

It Gives Mastery over Obstacles—The greatest Wealth that 
can Come to One—Putting Poverty Underfoot by Learning 
to Use Their Own Powers—What a Well-known Writer 
Says of the Naked Strength of One’s own Spirit—The 
Power that Nothing can Shake—Give your Best and you 
will Get the Best—Some Bracing Philosophy and Occult 
Hints on Prosperity—Everything is Within Us—We are 
the Masters of our Fate... 1 


II. 

woman’s greatest need. 

Steering clear of Adversity—Pecuniary Independence Woman’s 
Greatest Need—The Grim Trouble Poverty, and How to 
Avoid Him—“ A little Money in the Pocket” Sustains the 
Fainting Spirit—Happiness and Poverty Mortal Enemies— 
Poverty the Brand of Ignorance—It Can be Abolished— 

The Greatest Wrong now Suffered by Women—“ Put not 
your Trust in Princes ”—Pointing the Road to Pecuniary 
Independence..... 20 







vi 


CONTENTS . 


III. 

FINDING ONE’S TRUE CALLING. 

] 

How to Go About it—Mistaken Vocations—Reaching our 
Level—Avoiding Over-crowded Fields—No Flowery Beds 
of Ease—Know Thyself—Don’t Become a Drifting Medio¬ 
cre—Some Things Worth Knowing—You will Find your 
own Place if you Seek Faithfully—The Field for Women 
not Limited—An Incident in Real Life—The Art of Seizing 
Chances. 


IV. 


TRAINING AND EFFICIENCY. 

How to Compel Success—Some Strong Assertions on the 
Economic Problem—Efficiency Abolishes Poverty—Thor¬ 
ough Training Brings Success—The Best Way for Work¬ 
ers to Command Respect—How the Human Mind Grows 
—Perfection and its Results—Inefficiency Unpardonable— 
Business Training for Women—Extracts from a Business 
Woman’s Opinions—Lack of Business Knowledge Causes 
Hardships to Women and Children—The Remedy for 
Dowerless Maidens—Subjects less Dry than the Bread of 
Dependence—More in the Word Business than is generally 
Supposed. 


V. 


PERVERTED PRIDE. 

To which some Women Owe Life-long Poverty—What often 
Keeps them at the Door of Pauperdom—To Put Money in 
their Purses Many Women must Change their Ideas— 
The Future of “ Menial Work”—Hands as well as Heads 
must be Educated—New Methods of Recreation—The 
Manual Labor Gospel and its Apostle—The Price we Pay 
for Living—A Delusion of the Present Time—The interest¬ 
ing School of Experience one Woman Attended—Helping 
Women to Help Themselves—“Experimental Stations” 
which Caused a loss of Faith to the Experimenter—Only 
Women of extraordinary Intelligence Strike Out into New 
Lines of Work—Dying of “Notions”—How Genuine 
Gentlewomen Meet Adversity. 





CONTENTS. 


/ 


VI. 


THE ROAD TO SUCCESS. 

] 

iTou can Take what you Will—The Simple Science of Success- 
How to Bring Forth the Ability within Us—How we can 
Get New Light—Giving our Best—A Wire Walker who 
Paid the Price of Success—Fortune must not be Wooed 
Half-heartedly—Business Bread which Cast upon the 
Waters Returns Again—Think Success—A Great Philo¬ 
sophic Truth—The State of Mind that Compels Prosperity 
^ —Attention to Business and What it Results in—The First 
Condition of Success and the Second—The Law of Success 
without Sex Limitation—What an Editor Says—What 
Constitutes Success. 


VII. 

BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY. 

Let your Intentions be Known—The Philosophy of Waiting— 
Hard Work with Divine Uses—The Attitude of Faith 
which Dispels Terror—How to Make the Craven Cur, Pov¬ 
erty, Run away—How Destiny Works for Us—The Gifts 
which Follow Gratitude—Desire and Expectation Make a 
Strong Combination in Wooing Fortune—Overcoming 
Disheartening Obstacles—An Important Branch of the Art 
of Getting On—The Contagion of Being in Earnest—How 
One Woman found Fortune through an Expression of Love 
and Sympathy—The Good Things which Come when we 
^ Give forth Love and Kindness—What is Promised to them 
that Overcome—Systematizing and Shaping Ideas—The 
Art of Getting Before the Public—Catching the World’s 
Attention—Ask and Ye Shall Receive—The Test of Fitness 
to Survive—“ How Can I Get a Hearing ? ”—The Answer 
—Mental Attitudes and their Power—Little Histories 
of Women who Conquered in New Paths—Special Teach¬ 
ing—Tides taken at the Flood. 


VIII. 

CONDENSED COMMERCIAL WISDOM. 

Build up Your Own Business—Own Yourself and your 
Talents—The Lesson of Serving and the Lesson of Man- 
aging—The Weakening Effect of the Weekly Salary—Em- 




CONTENTS. 


viii 


PAGE 

ployer and Employed—A Special Word of Wisdom to 
Young Girls—What a Newspaper Woman says of Work¬ 
ing too long on a Salary—Co-operation, the greatest of all 
Powers Known for the Abolition of Poverty—Its Share in 
the Solution of the Economic Problem—The Spiritual Ele¬ 
ment of the Co-operative Principle—Through it Women 
can achieve Financial Independence—The Enforced Sym¬ 
pathy of Interest which Precedes the True Sympathy of 
Spirit—An even Sea—One Method of attracting the Good 
Things of Life—A Lesson in Metaphysics—Avoid the At¬ 
mosphere of Hurry—The Prosperity that Comes to the Self- 
controlled—How Words can Make or Mar our Success.. 64 


IX. 

LITTLE KEYS TO FORTUNE. 

Self-denial and its Uses—The Saving that Means Using, and 
the Saving that Means Losing—The Road to Great Spirit¬ 
ual and Material Possessions—Self-mastery and What it 
Brings—The Time to Save—Where to Apply the Economic 
Pruning Knife—What Constitutes Economy—Old Saws 
with Destruction in them—The First, Greatest and Only 
Essential Economy—The Dangerous Virtue of Saving— 

The Old and the New—Some Interesting Philosophy on 
old Clothes—Woman’s Business Sense—The Business 
Armor—How it will Prevent the Speech of Scandal and 
Protect the Wearer—The Mental Uniform of the Business 
House—Keeping Hours and Appointments—Your Word 
Represents You—The Religion of Fulfilling Promises—The 
Great System of Evening Up which is ever in Operation 
—The Harmony of the Universe must be Represented in 
Business—Keeping Your Word has Great Value. 72 


X. 


THINGS NECESSARY TO KNOW. 

Wives Understanding their Husbands’ Business—Talent for 
Business is Sexless—The Cultivation of the Executive 
Faculty—The Quality that will put You in High Places— 
Learning Business Methods—Instructing Children in the 
Same Science—Law in the Business World—Putting Our¬ 
selves in Harmony with it—Study the Accords of the 
Business World—The Temptations, Sins and Needs of the 
Business World—The Sword of Business—The Best Capi¬ 
tal—The Magnetic Threads which Draw to us Prosperous 
Conditions—Business Currents. 84 




CONTENTS. 


ix 


XI. 


IMPORTANT POINTS. 

PAGE 

Business Letters—The Potency of Written Words.—Photo¬ 
graphs of Thoughts and Ideas—Valuable Hints on Winning 
Good Will—One of the best Advertisements—The Invisible 
Spirit of Written Correspondence—Legible Handwriting 
and its Benefits—Pushing your Business—Where it Begins 
—The Potency of Imagination—The State of Mind Makes 
Material Conditions—The Value of Self-assertion and Self¬ 
esteem—The Tact that Avoids Offence—a Recipe for Ob¬ 
taining Good Will—Don’t Make your own Clothes—The 
Philosophy of it.—A Federation of Labor—The Disintegra¬ 
tion of Diffusion—The Business Woman’s Dress—Making 
Concessions to Ignorance—The Evolution of Dress—The 
True Economy in Clothes—A Good-luck Method—Suita¬ 
bility the Necessary Thing—The Relation of Clothes to 
Success—The Bondage of Dress. 92 


XII. 

HELPERS AND HINDERERS. 

Wealthy Workers—The Rights of the Rich Woman—WhoHelps 
and who Hinders—The tendency toward Universal Indus¬ 
try—Never too Late to Begin—A Hint about Feeling Young 
—Some Suggestions to Women who don’t Know what to do 
with Themselves—What some Women Achieved who Be¬ 
gan Late—What Gives One a Hold on Life—Criminal 
Helplessness—Salvation for the Industrial World in the 
Development of the Individual—The Gospel of the Practical 
—A Deplorable Feature of the Age—Self-support the Duty 
of Every One—Unoccupied Women. 105 


XIII. 

THE SEED OF WEALTH. 

The Spiritual Qualities that Make Prosperity—Our Attitude 
toward Others and its Material Consequences—Sowing and 
Reaping—The Wide Significance of Sowing—What Under¬ 
lies all the Dealings of Man with Man—How Good Will 
Expresses Itself—The Best Investments—Helping Others to 
Live—Giving and Getting—The Question for us to Ask and 




X 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Answer—The Blessings Promised to Givers—The Practice 
of Tithing and its Material Benefits—The Spiritual Secret 
of the Universal Business Success of the Jews—The “ Path 
to Wealth”—Withholding Tendeth to Poverty. 112 


XIY. 


ECONOMIC BLUNDERS AND BENEFITS. 

Over-crowded Professions and the Remedy—Misfits in Produc¬ 
tion—The Rocks on which many a Woman’s Barque Goes 
Down—How to Learn what is Saleable—The Heartache and 
Lost Time of Misproductions—Supplying the Real Wants 
of the World—Asking for Work—A Question of Need and 
Supply—The Foundation of all Business—Ask and ye shall 
Receive—The Sure Reward of those who Earnestly Seek— 
Finding New Industries—New Conditions and New Occu¬ 
pations—Reasons why Some are Poor—Woman Can 
Do what she Will—Opportunities Made within Fifty Years 
—No Occupation closed to Women—Don’t Talk about your 
Business—Occult Reasons why you should not Babble 
—The Golden Quality of Silence—Early Bird Wisdom— 
Subtle Causes which Make Success—The Great Natural 
Law that Underlies an old Proverb. 118 


XV. 


A STORY AND A SERMON. 

Politeness Pays—The Cost of Rudeness—How Bitter Bread 
Came Back—All Doors will Admit You—What a News¬ 
paper Woman Says to Young Girls. 128 


XVI. 


SAYING AND DOING. 

The Potency of Faith—The Things we Say and what They 
Bring us—Words and Their Burdens or Blessings—The 
Industrial Education of the Future—Hand-craft a Neces¬ 
sity—Don’t Watch the Clock—How the “ Get-there Road ” 
must be Traveled—Woman as a Conservative Factor—The 
Story of Four Fortunate Daughters. 134 






CONTENTS. 


xi 


XVII. 


THE ALLUREMENTS OF SCIENCE. 

PAGE 

in Medicine—The Smooth Path of the Woman Doctor 
to-day and the Rough One of a Couple of Decades ago— 
Instances of Eminence in this Profession—The Extension 
of Medical Education to Women—The Doctors’ Spiritual as 
well as Material Rewards—Women in Dental Surgery— 
Women Pharmacists—What one of Them Says about the 
Work—Women Mathematicians—Some Mathematical 
Celebrities—The Weary Road They had to Travel in the 
Past. 140 


XVIII. 


THE LIBERAL ARTS. 

Applied Design—A School of it—Decorative Art—Some Ex¬ 
amples of Success in it—Practical Painting and what Wo¬ 
men might Do in it—Photography and its Opportunities— 
Cameo Carving—Architecture ; Mistaken Ideas on this 
Profession—Piano and Organ Tuning.. 150 


XIX. 


THE WRITTEN WORD. 

Novel-writing—Misinformation on this Subject Corrected— 
Newspaper Work and what it Offers—Newspaper Illustra¬ 
tion and its Chances for the Genius of the Woman Artist- 
Advertising and its Opportunities—The Publishing Busi¬ 
ness-Book Agents—The Business Described by One who 
Made it Win. 159 


Women 


XX. 


W H ERE THERE IS ROOM FOR MORE. 

In the Pulpit—The Slowness of the Qhurches in Permitting 
Women to Preach—What Women Have Done and Can Do 
in Spreading Religious Philosophy Independent of Organ¬ 
izations—Their Amazing Success in Modern Metaphysics— 
The World is Woman’s to Work in Spiritually without 
the Sanction of Synods or Bishops if She Will—As Orator 
She has Much to Do in the Coming Years—Kindergarten 





xii 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Work—What it Promises to Teachers and Pupils—Room 
for more Kindergartens and more Training Schools—The 
Law—A Woman Lawyer Answers some Pertinent Ques¬ 
tions—Practical Lectures—An Important Feature of Mod¬ 
ern Education—Pioneer Lecturers—Musicians. 168 


XXI. 

SOME NEW AND OLD OCCUPATIONS. 

Educators of the Neglected—There should be More of Them— 
Women as Experts—Invention, and Its Possibilities for 
Women—Banking—Electrical Engineering—Simple Prin¬ 
ciples Put in Practice—Packing Trunks—Costuming— 
Manicure—Hair-cutting and Hair-dressing-^-Inventing a 
Business4-A Story with Wisdom in it—An Original Cough 
Cure—Beautifiers—Jewelers—Box-making—Little Things 
to Do—Making Artificial Flowers—Feather Curling—Man¬ 
ufacturing Overshoes—Making Neck-scarfs—Giving Les¬ 
sons on the Sewing Machine—Express Messengers—Oper¬ 
ating Stage-lines—In Dolldom—Dressing Dolls—Pressing 
Dresses. 180 


XXII. 

CARING FOR OTHERS. 

The Chaperon—Her Widened Sphere—Trained Nurses—At¬ 
tendants for the Helpless—Matrons—The Need for More of 
the Right Kind... 195 


XXIII. 

BEHIND THE COUNTER. 

Saleswomen—Their Woes and the Remedy—One who Solved 
the Difficult Problem—Her Interesting Story—How Im¬ 
provement must Come—Cashiers. 200 

XXIV. 

EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS IN HORTICULTURE. 

Women of Culture and Refinement the First to Embark in 
Enterprises of this Kind—The Moral and Pecuniary Re¬ 
muneration which Followed Well-directed Effort—Hop- 






CONTENTS. 


xiii 


farming—Grafting and Budding—Raising Tube-roses and 
Cotton—Raising Berries—Fruit-farming—General Farm¬ 
ing-Surplus of the Vegetable Garden—The Little Patch 
of Ground and What can Come out of it—Raising Celery 
—How a Woman made Half a Million of Dollars—Garden¬ 
ing—“ Come South, Young Woman”—Violets, Sweet 
Violets. 208 


XXV. 

COUNTRY HOME-INDUSTRIES. 

Poultry Raising—Scientific Methods—Description of a New 
Jersey Chicken-farm—One Girl’s Effort—Bee-keeping— 
What the Busy Bee Can Produce under the Manipulation 
of Science—Dairying—•' The Poor Man’s Cow ”—Silk Cult¬ 
ure—Home Fruit-preserving—How to Make a Market for 
it. 228 


XXVI. 

BREAKING ROUGH GROUND. 

Women Homesteaders in Nebraska—One Man’s Opinion of 
Them—Story of Two Women Homesteaders—The Pleas¬ 
ures of Making a Home. 242 


XXVII. 


DAILY BREAD. 

Vienna Kitchens—A Hint to Women of Executive Ability— 
Travelers’ Luncheons—The Opportunities Uncultivated 
which They Present—Supplying Cooked Food to Families 
—Operating Bakeries—One Woman makes a New Depart¬ 
ure and Wins—Groceries—Cooking-schools—Woman’s 
Exchanges—What They Were and what They have Be¬ 
come—The Change Made by the Application of Business 
Methods—Special Food for Invalids—Another New Depart¬ 
ure....250 


i 


XXVIII. 

WOMAN’S HISTORIC WEAPON, THE NEEDLE. 

The Little Implement that has Slain More than the Sword— 






xiy 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

The Crush of the Wheel Added to the Stab of the Needle— 
Two Remarkable Co-existent Facts—A Clue to the Cure of 
the Sewing Woman’s Misery—An Untrained Army whose 
Members Devour each Other—How to Thin Out Over¬ 
crowded Ranks—Efficient Dressmakers always Make 
Money—What would Make the Sewing Woman Free and 
Independent—How They Established a Millinery Busi¬ 
ness—Head-wear and its Opportunities—Work and Money 
Waiting for the Bonnet Reformer—A Wealthy Milliner’s 
Story—Lace-making. 264 


XXIX. 

WITHIN THE HOME. 

Home-making—An Art which Expresses the Soul—The True 
Purpose of Homes—A Center of Sympathy—What the 
Controlling Spirit of a Home can Do to Benefit Society 
—Neighborliness as a Civilizing Factor—Housekeeping 
Schools—Departments of Domestic Economy in Colleges— 
Housekeeping—The Letter and the Spirit—A Return to 
Deserted Paths—Where there is Both Space and Opportu¬ 
nity—A Simple and Easy Solution of a Great Difficulty— 
Why One Young Girl Struggles on in Shops—Light on a 
Dark Subject—The Word that Kills—Dispensing with In¬ 
feriors—A Co-operative Household—Three Reasons Why— 

A Solution for the Household Service Problem—How to 
Keep Boarders—The Beneficence of Labor. . 273 

XXX. 


CHEERING FACTS AND FANCIES. 

Business Women’s Clubs—Co-operative Raisin-growing—A 
Business Romance of Four Women who Were Weary of 
the School-room—How they Made the Desert Blossom like 
the Rose—Benefits of Co-operation—In Union there is 
Strength and Pleasure too—Another Story of Successful 
Co-operation—Voices at Home and Abroad—Pertinent 
Paragraphs—Promoting the Employment of Women—The 
Business Fatherhood of Employers—What the Employer 
owes His People—No Accidents in the Business World— 

The Stewardship of Wealth—How One Business Firm 
Expresses its Sense of Moral Responsibility to its Em¬ 
ployees—A Seaside Institute for Women Workers—A 
Practical Expression of Sympathy—Masters of your Fate 
—A Final Message...294 





INTRODUCTION. 


This book offers no apology for its existence. It is 
here because its author believes it is needed. Its object 
is to help women to help themselves, which js the only 
kind of assistance that is of permanent value. It tries 
to point out the stumbling-blocks in the path of the 
business woman, and attempts to show her how to avoid 
or overcome them. It endeavors to make it clear to her 
that her place in the Business World is not a corner 
fenced off by prejudices based on the time-worn idea of 
sex limitations ; but that she is free to work in any part 
of it she chooses, and is bound by no bonds save those 
which exist in her own mind. She has only her own 
permission to gain to do what she will. Less than half 
a century ago, the only occupations in which she could 
engage, with her own and the public’s consent, were 
teaching, housework, sewing, and nursing. Now she 
may be anything from a lecturer to a steamboat captain, 
and the public respect her and give her its patronage if 
her work deserves it. 

The word business is used in this book in its most 
unlimited sense. It represents all the occupations in 
which people engage—agriculture, mechanics, the arts 
and sciences, and the work within the home. The Busi¬ 
ness World includes all the industrial affairs of life. 
No attempt has been made to give a list of occupations 


10 


INTRODUCTION. 


for women. That would necessitate mentioning all the 
industries known. Those spoken of are such as admit 
of greater development or are new to many readers. 

The author has striven to make it clear to each woman 
who reads this book that within her exists capacity for 
all business, and has tried to show her how to make the 
ability she possesses show forth. 

The book contains expressions from many minds, the 
aim of the author being to bring to bear on the subject 
of woman’s financial independence respectable authority 
and many examples of success. Believing that nothing 
is so convincing as the direct messages of those who 
have succeeded, she has frequently given their own 
words as they uttered them. 

She hopes that every woman who reads this work 
may realize that she is the possessor of an unconquer¬ 
able soul, which can wield power in the Business World 
as well as in the home. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD 


I. 

SELF-SALVATION. 

I have a saving message for all women. It is that 
on self-dependence hangs their salvation from poverty 
and other evils. Only by means of self-dependence can 
they ever achieve anything, or be anything but feeble, 
undeveloped creatures, mentally, spiritually, physically, 
socially, and financially. 

The dependence on self has made men great wherever 
they are great, and this is the only thing that can do it, 
because it is the only thing that calls into action the 
powers they are possessed of. Use, action, these are the 
means by which all growth is accomplished. It is dis¬ 
use of their faculties that has made women a weak and 
dependent class. They have robbed themselves of their 
divine privilege of growing to full stature by yielding 
obedience to the voice of mind-weakening custom and 
strength-destroying prejudice. They were pleased to 
take a place conspicuously labeled as belonging to weak¬ 
lings, and they filled it until the whole race of them 
well-nigh lost their strength entirely, for this is the 
inevitable fate of disuse of faculties in all nature. 



12 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 

They foolishly fancied that weakness and helplessness 
made them attractive to men, and men were ignorant 
enough to think so, too, until pretty helplessness became 
burdensome, and then they made very unflattering com¬ 
plaints. This false belief came from ignorance, as does 
everything that keeps the race in bondage. “ I, Free¬ 
dom, abide with knowledge.” Remember that. In 
ignorance there is only bondage, and all bondage is 
caused by ignorance. In knowledge there is always 
freedom, and only where light or knowledge is can free¬ 
dom abide. 

Woman is something more than woman. She is an 
individual, a spark from the divine center of all life, the 
same as her brother, and as an individual, and not as 
a woman, must she shape her destiny, and stand or 
fall. 

As an individual, her first duty is self-development. 
Not as daughter, sister, wife or mother must she think 
of herself, but as a person, a unit of a mighty whole, 
who can be of no service to others if she herself is not 
made symmetrical and strong in mentality, which also 
includes what is called her physical being. On the per¬ 
fection of the unit depends the perfection of the whole 
body of mankind, which in reality is an indivisible ex¬ 
pression of God. And woman is a unit. She is mind, 
pure mind, or spirit, and pure spirit is sexless. 

I believe that nothing has kept the race back so much 
as the dense ignorance and death-making prejudice of 
the world on the subject of sex limitation. But the 
great power that moves mankind steadily onward in its 
journey into light has its own mysterious way of per¬ 
forming its wonders. Do you not see that ever since our 
civil war women have been forced to action in the busi- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


13 


ness world more than formerly was dreamed possible ? 
The war took away the bread-winning props of thousands 
of them, and they had to be their own bread-winners. 
Then, following that, came a tremendous number of men 
whose inefficiency compelled women not only to support 
themselves and their children, but to support husbands 
and sons as well. Never in the history of the race have 
there been so many male weaklings who settled down to 
live off the earnings of the women to whom they denied 
a voice in the affairs of government as now. Many said 
that as women developed their powers to earn money, 
men lost theirs, and it is largely true; but it will be 
only for a time, and the fact has a tremendous meaning. 
It is the Creator’s way of compelling women to learn 
the great lesson of life—self-dependence. 

I say that the woman who is and always has been 
sheltered and protected from all knowledge of the 
struggle for existence has missed something which 
would be of inestimable value to her to know. Every 
experience enriches one. The woman who has been 
forced out into the thick of the battle for bread has 
been more blessed than her sheltered sister, if only the 
experience has taught her to stand alone. 

A friend of mine, poorly equipped, was forced into 
the business world to earn a livelihood for herself and 
children. It took twelve years of misdirected, fitful 
effort to teach her how to use her power and reach suc¬ 
cess. When some one commiserated her because of 
the hardships she endured, she said, “ I would not ex¬ 
change the wealth of my experience for all the money 
in the world. Now I know what life means. I never 
did before. I see into every problem clearer, I under¬ 
stand all other souls better, and I have found my own 


14 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


strength, which' is the greatest wealth that can come to 
one.” 

The ability to stand alone, without fear, no matter 
how empty the purse nor how hard the winds of advers¬ 
ity blow, is the most precious possession a human 
being can have. Remember it takes strength to stand 
alone. Whenever we can do it we have reached a point 
which gives us the mastery over all obstacles. Indeed, 
there are no obstacles to a determined, unyielding will. 
Ibsen, in his drama, 44 An Enemy of Society,” says : 
44 The strongest man is he who stands alone.” 

Women need to learn the great lesson of self-depend¬ 
ence. When they have learned it we shall see a new 
heaven and a new earth, for the earth will be made 
over into a new heaven. Think of a world in which no 
disability on account of sex exists, a world where all 
are encouraged to make the most and the best of them¬ 
selves, where there is no leaning on anything but the 
God-given spirit within us. 

This spirit is not only in us, but we are it; when we 
fully realize this no power on earth can keep us from 
accomplishing whatever we wish to do. It is about 
learning to use the power of this spirit, this will, the 
44 1 ” that is in every one of us, that I want to speak to 
all women. I want to show them that they can put 
poverty under their feet if they will only learn to use 
their own power, learn to stand alone, unpropped, but 
more firmly than any props could make them. All 
props fail, sooner or later, save the dauntless, developed 
will. That, I believe, will never fail. It is what re¬ 
mains of us after the flesh has been laid aside, and upon 
its development depends not only our progress here but 
through all eternity. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


15 


The child who stands alone for the first time shows 
in its baby face a joy never there before. Afterward 
it is never content to creep, because it has learned its 
own strength, and from that moment it ceases to be a 
quadruped and becomes an upright creature. 

Helen Wilmans, who has done more to cultivate will¬ 
power in her fellow-beings than any other person whom 
I know, tells how all things conspired to force her into 
a knowledge of her own power and ability to stand 
alone. Her temperament was lymphatic. She liked 
her ease ; she could amuse herself with small pleasures; 
could bear any amount of bad treatment and abuse, and 
find comfort in little things; but one disaster after 
another followed her, as though Fate had determined 
to drive her on. She turned to newspaper work from 
very hunger; but having ideas and not being a mere 
scribbler, writing down to the public’s most common¬ 
place demand, after a few months she found that door 
shut in her face, until she stood, one sleety November 
day, on the streets of Chicago, with twenty-five cents in 
her pocket and not another cent to her name, stripped 
of every dependence save that which she had in herself. 
Of this experience she says : 

“ The first attempt I made to analyze my feelings 
brought me the knowledge that I was not frightened. 
Then came such a consciousness of strength as I had 
never had before in my life. Everything was swept 
from me, and I stood alone in my own strength. And 
this naked strength is a tremendous thing to stand in. 
There is nothing equal to it. For the first time in my 
life I was perfectly erect; I touched no one at any 
point, I became conscious of strange power, I was glad 
my purse was empty; the thought of money should 
never master me again. I held a power in my hands 


16 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


that nothing could shake ; that power was the absence 
of fear,—the sense of freedom, and the consciousness of 
my own independent and unaided strength.” 

On that strength Helen Wilman has stood ever since, 
and she has been signally successful. The twenty-five 
cents has multiplied itself into more than twice as 
many thousand dollars, and health and happiness have 
come with it. 

Many men have had a similar experience, and some 
women. Whoever has had it, and has resolutely stood 
upon his or her own strength, has put the world under 
foot. Once reach this point in mind—the point of 
feeling that you are master of circumstances, and poverty 
will trouble you no more. 

The power to stand alone insures success. Once 
reach that and the good will flow toward you from all 
directions, because you have become a magnet that 
attracts it. This is what I would say to all women, rich 
or poor, because they are but half developed until they 
have reached this point. It will cost some of those 
things you have heretofore clung to, however; but you 
must let them go. They are only false beliefs, anyhow. 
Universal truth permits no compromise. It will have all 
of you, or nothing of you. Perhaps you are not giving 
out the best that is in you ; but are trimming your mes¬ 
sages down to what you think the world will receive. 
As surely as you do this, having higher light within you, 
the vengeance of outraged freedom is upon your track 
and will have its day of reckoning with you. Perhaps 
you wonder why you do not get on better, when you 
are so industrious. It may be because you are keeping 
back the best because of cowardice. If you are, you 
will fail, sooner or later. Whenever you give out the 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


17 


thought that burns within you, no matter what people 
think or say of you, you will master the world, for this 
means standing alone. 

Strengthen your will—the will is the expression of 
your spirit, and the spirit is the “I” of you. Never 
say “ I cannot,” but say “ I will; I will; I will. ” Merely 
saying this, and holding doggedly to it in your mind 
will give you great power. Hold yourself in this 
attitude of confidence in your ability and determination, 
no matter if you do not feel it to be true. By holding 
yourself there it will become true ; you will feel power 
coming to you. Your will will grow strong. “Man 
yields himself not even unto the angels, nor to Death 
itself, save through the weakness of his own poor will.” 

Never, never, never let yourself lean on anybody. 
You will do yourself great harm if you do, and will be a 
burden to the one on whom you lean. Even if some¬ 
body invites you to lean, don’t do it. It means death 
to your faculties ultimately. I am almost persuaded 
that there would be no helpless aged people, if the 
younger ones did not continually weaken them by as¬ 
suming that they are old and helpless. 

Do not procrastinate. The time to begin to act is 
now , NOW, NOW. No matter if what you want to do is 
not to your hand. Begin at something, holding to the 
thought of what you want to do, and the way will open 
to you. Procrastination weakens the will. Fight it as 
you would fight a deadly disease, for that is what it is. 

Remember again and again that women are not simply 
women; they are individuals, and are here to do, not 
merely to be admired and petted. Weakness does not 
make them lovable, nor is the love that wants to keep 
them in an inferior condition worthy the name of love. 

2 


18 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


No one wants to keep a child always a child. That 
would be to rob him of his right to development, to 
make an idiot of him. A child of four is very interest¬ 
ing, but only for what he promises to be. Were he in 
mind still a child of four when he had reached the age of 
twenty-four he would be a pitiable creature. Yet women 
permitted themselves to be arrested in their mental de¬ 
velopment at a halfway post, because they were afraid 
men would not like them if they grew too wise. Yet 
it is not weakness, or beauty, or ignorance that holds 
the hearts of men—it is character, and character can¬ 
not come to its perfection if the woman stops her de¬ 
velopment anywhere short of the highest heights at¬ 
tainable. In Mrs. Mason’s wonderful book, “ Hiero 
Salem,” she says: “ Whence have we come ? From 
creative life itself. Why? To ourselves create new 
forms of life, of knowledge and beauty. What are we ? 
Part and power ourselves of that from which we con¬ 
stantly emanate. Whither do we go ? On and on eter¬ 
nally, ever approaching, never reaching the end of the 
fullness of ineffable, infinite, rapturous, creative life.” 

Think of this carefully. Why are we here? To 
create new forms of life, of knowledge, and beauty. All 
are here for that purpose, women as well as men. To 
create is to work, to execute, to achieve ; and to him 
who creates, new powers will be constantly given. 

Everything is within us. The business of life is to 
bring it forth. Every invention of man was first an 
idea. In the mind originates everything. Women, 
then, who let their faculties lie idle, are inviting decay, 
yes, a decay of the immortal part of them. Indolence 
is closely followed by destruction. Use is the measure 
of every value in nature. Disuse is the forerunner of 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


19 


destruction. I know that whatever the soul determines 
to do that it can do, if it stands secure in its own 
strength. Never in my life have I failed to accomplish 
that which I steadily and determinedly set myself to 
do. Before this wonderful power all opposition goes 
down. Will, alone, is great. Strengthen it, take your 
stand upon it, and conquer the world. 

This world is intended for both sexes, the business 
part as well as the rest of it. How is woman to be able 
to pass an intelligent opinion on questions vital to the 
whole race if she sees only the sleek social side of life? 
Is it remarkable that she is often narrow in her opinions 
and hard in her judgments? When she is “protected” 
from knowledge of the world in which she lives, she is 
injured, not benefited ; dwarfed, not developed. If there 
is a reason for our being here at all, that reason has to 
do with our eternal development, a process which only 
the realities, not the dreams of life, can further. 


20 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


II. 

WOMAN’S GREATEST NEED. 

Adversity has its sweet uses, especially in poetry; 
but no one starts out to seek for it. The main business 
of everybody is to steer clear of it, and this all try to do 
by hunting Prosperity. 

Dr. Johnson once said: “When I -was running about 
this town a very poor fellow, I was a great arguer for 
the advantages of poverty. Sir, all the arguments 
which are brought to represent poverty as no evil, show 
it to be evidently a great evil. You never find people 
laboring to convince you that you may live very happily 
upon a plentiful fortune.” 

What terror has life for sensitive women equal to the 
approach of Poverty? Not Death itself can so daunt 
the spirit or curb the courage. To be delivered from it 
is the wish of all mankind, the mainspring of every 
effort, the basis of all activity. It has wrung oceans of 
tears from its victims, and never dried a single one. It 
is the friend and ally of crime and shame, the author of 
misery and degradation. “ The key on other troubles 
may be turned;” but Poverty refuses to be closeted 
with the rest of the skeletons. Boldly he writes his 
name on face, dress, home—yes, upon the very soul 
itself. 

Perhaps the most deplorable effect of poverty on re- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOBLD. 


21 


fined women is the humiliation of spirit it entails. This 
state of mind sooner or later destroys the self-respect 
and self-confidence upon which manhood and woman¬ 
hood rest. Anything that makes one think meanly of 
oneself cannot be good for the soul. 

An empty purse makes a coward of its owner. There 
was wisdom in the conduct of the poverty-stricken 
preacher who always borrowed ten dollars from one of 
his congregation just before going into the pulpit, and 
invariably handed it back to him as soon as the sermon 
was over. By way of apology he said, “ I can preach so 
much better when I have a little money in my pocket.’' 
Wherever we find ourselves in civilized society 44 a little 
money in the pocket ” is wonderfully sustaining to the 
spirit. 

There was another minister of whom one of his par¬ 
ishioners, in a prayer, said, 44 Lord, you need not take 
any trouble to keep our beloved pastor humble ; we will 
do that by keeping him poor.” 

Though rihhes often make us selfish, poverty always 
compels us to be so. The good Samaritan could not 
have been a good Samaritan if he had not had a beast 
of burden on which to place the sick man, and money 
enough to pay his board at an inn. Before we can give 
we must have. 

44 Give me neither poverty nor riches ” should express 
the desire of every enlightened mind; but it is safe to 
assume that many who utter it attach a mental appeal 
which more definitely expresses their preferences, 44 es¬ 
pecially don’t give me poverty.” 

Voltaire wisely determined to get money before lie 
gave out what was in him, so that the world would lis¬ 
ten with respect to the message he had for it. 


22 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


A woman author, whose works have greatly pleased 
the public, when asked by a publisher to write a paper 
entitled “ How to be Happy, though Poor,” said she 
could not, because she was convinced that Happiness 
and Poverty were mortal enemies. 

The homage accorded so universally to wealth has its 
root in something deeper than the mere vulgar love of 
externals. Wealth represents strength, which it is in¬ 
stinctive to admire. The man who has accumulated 
riches is supposed to be strong of character. It is the 
power in him rather than the money he possesses which 
makes him of interest. Money is a force, and he is the 
power who commands it. All the world pays tribute to 
the strength of character which achieves something. 

For the same reason every person with a remnant of 
self-respect is ashamed of being poor. Why? Because 
poverty is a confession of weakness, and weakness of 
character is instinctively held in contempt by all man¬ 
kind. It is also abhorred because it is the mark of ig¬ 
norance. This is not merely a sounding »phrase, but an 
indisputable truth of mighty import to the human race. 
Poverty is ignorance of one’s value, powers, talent, 
strength and right to joint ownership in the best the 
world has. The great foe mankind has to overcome is 
Ignorance. When we overcome that we overcome 
Poverty. 

No one not an imbecile nor an invalid need be poor. 
Poverty can be abolished. Every woman who wants to 
can abolish it for herself. 

“ What is the greatest wrong now suffered by 
women ? ” 

This question was asked Mrs. May Wright Sewall, the 
President of the Congress of Representative Women, 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


23 


held in Chicago during the first week of the Columbian 
Fair, to which she answered: 

44 The disadvantage arising from the lack of pecuniary 
independence. 

44 Every woman who works for money when she is not 
obliged to dignifies wage-earning and makes it less 
humiliating for the woman who is obliged to work. 
Every woman who thus demonstrates woman’s value as 
a wage-earner sets a value on the service which the wife 
and mother renders to her family. 

44 The rich woman, as well as the poor, has a right to 
the highest culture and truest happiness, which comes 
ever from the exercise and development of one’s gifts 
and talents. The measure of worth is money; the test 
of excellence and success is the demand of the public. 
Consequently the rich woman has as good a right to sell 
her work for money as the woman less favored of for¬ 
tune. Service is the price we pay for living, and so 
great is the need of the world that if all the women of 
the world worked every day we would go to bed every 
night with the world’s work undone.” 

Women are expected to be the home-makers of soci¬ 
ety ; but they can’t make homes if they have no money. 
The home is believed to be the highest institution of 
civilization. The State exists only for its protection ; 
but it can have no existence if it has no financial foun¬ 
dation. Every institution of society must have a prop¬ 
erty basis. 

What gives men their influence and power in affairs? 
Is it not the fact that they are the bread-winners, the 
purse-holders ? They can speak and act freely because 
they stand on their own financial feet; they are factors 
in the business community; they are independent, not 
dependent. They have money, or are capable of getting 
it, and so command a hearing. 


24 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 

Men have always known that they must work out 
their own salvation. Women have refused to believe 
that they must do the same. They sat and waited for 
princes to come and carry them off to palaces. Often 
after they were carried off, the prince turned a pauper 
and the palace to a hovel, and still they dreamed that 
some impossible thing would happen to change their 
evil fortune into good. They had cultivated this idea 
and could not let it go, even in the face of disaster. 
They expected somebody to do something for them, in¬ 
stead of doing something for themselves. From the sad 
fault of putting their trust in princes, they had and still 
have sore need to be delivered. 

“ The world belongs to those who take it.” Pecuni¬ 
ary independence is yet the great need of womankind. 
She who achieves that is in a position from which the 
shafts of envy, spite or malice cannot dislodge her. As 
a mere social figure, if she offend society, and it chooses 
to turn its back on her, she is lost. But if she be a 
figure in the business world, her credit good at the bank, 
her financial favor a thing worth seeking and keeping, 
not only will society be very slow to give her its cold 
shoulder, but it could not annihilate her if it wished to. 
Her position in the business world makes her independ¬ 
ent of social snubs and frowns. 

The pecuniary independence here advocated for 
women has a larger meaning than the possession of prop¬ 
erty. It represents the finding out and training of their 
business faculties, until they feel able to maintain them¬ 
selves in decent comfort anywhere. The effect of this 
on character and destiny cannot be overestimated. She 
who trains her money-making faculties becomes the 
master of her own destiny. Neither the present nor 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD . 


25 


future affrights her. She knows she can always be 
master of the financial situation. She is not afraid, be¬ 
cause “ Courage consists in knowing oneself equal to the 
occasion.” Had all women this confidence the degrada¬ 
tion of any would be impossible. 

The woman who is financially independent—the word 
is used to express a state which is not dependent—honors 
the man she marries more than if she were not independ¬ 
ent. She has not accepted him because she needed a 
bread-winner,—has not been “ driven into it by poverty,” 
as many acknowledge they v^ere. Besides she is a safer 
mother to his children in case they should find them¬ 
selves without his care. 

The bread of dependence is bitter, and women have 
eaten thereof often when the moral suffering because of 
it broke their spirits and shortened their lives. To 
point out the road to pecuniary independence for every 
woman willing to put forth an effort is the purpose of 
this book. 


26 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD . 


m. 


FINDING ONE’S TRUE CALLING. 

To discover what one ought to do as a business for 
life is often one of the most difficult tasks assigned us in 
the whole journey. The world is full of discontented 
beings who fancy they are pursuing mistaken vocations. 
The school-teacher thinks a fine housekeeper was lost 
when she took up the work of instruction. The dress¬ 
maker is sure she would have shone as a painter of 
portraits. The saleswoman has no doubt that the 
dramatic stage has suffered because circumstances forced 
her where she is, and so on through the entire list. 

Yet with all the discontent and yearnings for some¬ 
thing different, it is doubtful if any of us are out of our 
true niches. We reach our level somehow and never 
rise above it. If we are fitted for a higher field of use¬ 
fulness than the one in which we find ourselves we shall 
reach it. Ability is like fruit. It must have time to 
ripen. 

How is the young girl who intends to be self-support¬ 
ing to find out what occupation she is best fitted for ? 
Her environment may be narrow and her opportunities 
for choosing small. There must be something within 
her knowledge which she likes to do better than anything 
else. This can be a guide-post for her. Perhaps the 
thing she most likes to do is next door to impossible as a 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD . 27 

means of earning a livelihood; but it can be the star to 
which she hitches her wagon. By its light she can find 
what she can begin on, and she must keep the star in 
view, and work toward it. 

She must not make the mistake of looking for her 
career only in what are called the “ genteel walks.” 
These are really the ruggedest paths, beset by the most 
drawbacks, and demanding the greatest sacrifices and 
most heroic efforts. Besides when she determines to 
find her work there, she enters the narrowest and most 
overcrowded field, where more will be required of her in 
every way than elsewhere; the standard of excellence 
being higher, by reason of the dense competition. She 
must not mistake a strong taste for art or letters for a 
talent for creating them. It is this mistake which 
makes art committees wretched and waste-baskets groan. 
“ What should we say of a person who gave way to a 
vague yearning to erect something when he could not 
saw a board straight, or fit one stone upon another ? ” 
asks an author. 

Usually that which one can do best one can do easi¬ 
est and find pleasure in the doing of it. Yet, it must 
be remembered that no calling conscientiously pursued 
is easy. She who bids for ease in her lifework will find 
it grow harder all the time, because she must sacrifice 
to the ease all the time. There are no flowery beds of 
ease in the business world, save for the spiritless de¬ 
pendents. Each must fight to win the prize, and sail 
through seas, which, if not bloody, are, to-say the least, 
stormy. 

If possible, follow the natural bent of your mind. 
Then even the closest application to your chosen call¬ 
ing will be a pleasure. To know one’s inborn aptitude 


28 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 

and then devote oneself to it, is sure to bring fortune. 
Find out your predominant faculty early in life if you 
can, and go to work on that trend. If you have talent 
it will manifest itself early—if genius, still earlier. 
Know thyself, is a command that should be imperative 
on the young. Study to find yourself out. Don’t de¬ 
pend on drifting unless you want to take rank among 
mediocres. They always drift, and are always being 
wrecked. As soon as you have decided what you want 
to be, strive without ceasing to fit yourself for your 
work, whatever it may be. Don’t be content with any¬ 
thing less than excellence. That will insure you better 
return because it will place you where you have to en¬ 
counter less competition. 

Commonplace performers in all walks of life swarm. 
“ There is always room at the top ” is an old and irritat¬ 
ing saw, but it has a world of meaning. If you should 
reach a height where you have no competition you could 
name your own price. 

Again, don’t make the mistake of wearying of your 
business after you have given yourself to it for years, 
and throw it up for some untried thing which looks 
easier. You then throw away all your experience, which 
is the best part of your capital, and all you have built 
up; and there is always the possibility that the next 
thing you try may prove still more disagreeable. Be¬ 
cause the return is slow is no proof that it is not com¬ 
ing in its fullness sometime. Determine at the start 
to possess more than average ability; you will then al¬ 
ways command more than average prices, and have less 
competition. 

Perhaps you have no very marked leaning toward 
any particular work; or perhaps you are versatile and 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


29 


can do many things equally well. In either case settle 
upon something and train for it to the best of your 
ability^ and opportunity. One always likes to do that 
which one can do well. And whoever heard of a woman 
wearying of her business, no matter how hard it was, 
if it was profitable? There is something wondrously 
sustaining in the knowledge that our efforts are bring¬ 
ing us a handsome monetary return. The gold-diggers 
tell of how they could toil unweariedly from dawn till 
dark as long as they were working in pay-dirt; but 
when they found themselves digging on barren claims, 
putting forth their best efforts on ground that had no 
gold in it, their strength gave out soon, their spirits 
failed, and they fell ill and sometimes died of the dread¬ 
ful disease, despondency. When they had no heart in 
their work they were soon used up. So it is with every¬ 
body. Good pay usually incites to good work, and 
good work usually brings good pay, save when it is 
preceded by the bad judgment that started the gold- 
seekers digging in profitless claims. 

Should a young girl feel assured that she has a tal¬ 
ent for some art, profession or career, and yet find all 
opportunities for learning it apparently hopelessly closed 
to her, she should go to work at whatever she can, keep¬ 
ing ever the thought in her mind that her present occu¬ 
pation is but a step toward that which she feels is her 
true one. By living in this faith, and taking advantage 
of every chance to rise—and chances will come if she is 
faithful in the few things wherein lies her present duty 
—she will surely find her longed-for field of labor, and 
that much sooner than she dared to expect. Nothing 
can keep the determined soul from its true kingdom. 
Whenever we turn our eyes in a certain direction with 


30 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


an earnest, unwavering desire for light and help in what 
we wish to achieve, the way opens with miraculous 
swiftness. 

That which no girl should do is to wait in idleness 
and dreamy hope that the way will be opened for her. 
Responses to all need and desire come only at the call 
of effort. We must first knock before any door opefts 
to us. It is even better to knock at the wrong door 
than not to knock at all. The effort we put forth is 
bound to have its answer even if it be misplaced. Each 
man or woman must work out his or her own salvation. 

The woman who waits for some fine business opening 
to hunt her up and beg her to give it her attention, will 
find herself in the same position as was the drunken 
man, who, being invited to sit down on entering a room, 
said he would when a chair came round to him. He 
soon fancied one had come, and sat down, only to find 
himself sitting on the floor. 

In looking over a list of occupations to decide upon 
one to pursue, a girl should not restrict herself to those 
usually pursued by women. She may find some work 
heretofore performed only by men, for which her tastes 
and talents fit her. If so, she may set about the doing of 
it unhindered. Nothing but cowardice need prevent 
her. Some of her undeveloped acquaintances may arch 
their eyebrows and curve their mouths unpleasantly 
when they hear of her new departure, but that need not 
bother her. There were people who did the same thing 
when Isabella of Castile gave her jewels to fit out the 
expedition to find the new world, and there always will 
be such people. 

There is no reason why women should not do any¬ 
thing men do, for which they have the strength; get 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


31 


ready to seize the first opportunity that offers. Keep 
looking for it, and you will find it. Remember that 
opportunity is represented as a figure with flying hair 
that runs rapidly. To see it one must he watchful. 
To seize it one must he prompt. 

Perhaps the woman who has absolutely nothing to 
fall back upon is in a fairer way to succeed in business 
than is she who has some sort of plank under her to 
hold on to. She must find something to do. The 
attitude of mind which the must represents is potent to 
compel the way to open ; while she who reposes on her 
plank is prone to remember that she has it, and that 
pulls her back a little. 

A woman now well known and successful in the 
world of letters, years ago went to New York alone, un¬ 
aided, and with but a few dollars in her pocket, to find 
literary work, and thereby earn her bread. She had 
talent and had proved it; but a series of unhappy events 
had left her stranded, and it was necessary to begin 
again. Cautious friends said to her, “ Aren’t you afraid 
you can’t find work when you get there?” “I must 
find it,” she answered, and she did, although the city was 
overrun with writers clamoring for a chance. She was 
one who could do well what she undertook to do, so 
that, having a foothold, she was sure to go on. 

A woman of my acquaintance found her true vocation 
in an unexpected manner. She had been doing clerical 
work for a firm that failed and closed up their house. 
As her salary had not been large, she had but a small 
portion laid by, and soon found herself on the edge of a 
worry. She kept looking for a situation of a similar 
character without success, until her small savings were 
gone. She could no longer pay her board. 


32 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


About this time a man who lodged in the same house 
fell sick, very sick, and the landlady was troubled 
because he needed much care, and there was nobody to 
give it to him. He, too, was out of money, so a hired 
nurse was not to be thought of. 

“ I have nothing else to do, and will take care of him 
until some other way can be found,” said the young 
woman clerk. 

“If you will, it shall be considered pay for your 
board,” said the kind-hearted landlady. 

The sick man was a relative of hers, who had made 
his home with her for years, and she was anxious to do 
everything in her power for him. 

So the ex-clerk became his nurse, and was so skillful 
and faithful that her care was rewarded by his recovery. 
In the days of his convalescence he and she became 
well acquainted and talked over their hopes, projects, 
and troubles together, with a degree of confidence that 
comes from friendly association. 

It did not end in their marrying each other and 
romantically starving to death, as the old-time novel- 
writer would have made it; but it led to the solving of 
both their problems nevertheless. He had patented an 
invention, one of those trifles that sell for a few cents 
and are so popular that everybody buys them, and so 
bring big returns in money. He had the patent, but 
no money to manufacture the article, and by sickness 
and poverty had been reduced to that low state of mind 
described as having “ lost his grip.” 

She had always believed that she had a talent for 
business in the way of pushing something. So she set 
about interesting some of her friends in the new inven¬ 
tion, and soon had enough money to make a start at 


WOMEN IN TEE BUSINESS WORLD. 


33 


manufacturing it. She had just what the inventor 
lacked—the quality of push. He took charge of the 
factory and she put the invention on the market, and 
they were soon firm on their financial feet as equal 
partners, in what has grown to he a great business. 
They are rich now, and married, but not to each other. 

Need the lesson of the tale be pointed out? The 
young woman took whatever offered in the way of 
opportunity, though it did not present itself in the 
form she expected or wished, and it led on to fortune. 
Had she been too full of false pride to become a nurse 
when the chance presented itself—when it was the 
opportunity as well as the duty that lay nearest, in all 
probability she would be clerking in some office to-day 
at twelve dollars a week instead of being one of the 
wealthiest of women manufacturers. 

In business, as well as in higher matters, the law that 
holds the planets in their course takes care of the result. 
We have only to do well the work that presents itself. 
The rest is managed by a mightier hand than ours. 

3 


34 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


IV. 

TRAINING AND EFFICIENCY. 

What would we think of a surgeon who undertook 
to tie up an artery, knowing nothing or but little of 
surgery? Or of an architect who would undertake to 
put up buildings without being absolutely sure that his 
plans were exact? What would be said of a ship¬ 
master who, uninstructed in the science of navigation, 
took a great vessel to sea? Or of the surveyor who 
marked out a railroad line and yet knew not the possi¬ 
ble from the impossible in feats of civil engineering ? 

Yet women by the thousands daily undertake things 
quite as wild according to their limited magnitude, and 
then wonder why the end is disaster. The great major¬ 
ity have yet to learn that efficiency is the principal 
requirement of all success; and that the only way to 
be efficient is to be thoroughly trained for the work in 
hand. This rule holds good in the humblest as well as 
the highest employment. The services of the capable 
are always in demand when it is known that they are 
capable, and that sort of news soon becomes noised 
about. Everywhere the difficulty is to find women who 
can do the required work well to fill situations; and this 
difficulty is as great at the bottom of the ladder as it is 
at the top. In domestic service inefficiency is so gross 
and common that it threatens to undermine the homes 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


35 


of the nation. Because of the difficulty of finding com¬ 
petent help to keep the household running smoothly, 
families are driven into boarding-houses and hotels, 
until our great cities have almost lost the home feature. 
New York has been named the “ city of the homeless,” 
and its rich are as homeless as its poor. That this ten¬ 
dency leads to results far from beneficial to society goes 
without saying. 

Were the women who engage in household service 
but efficient and trustworthy, as a class, a great step in 
the elevation of the race would be taken. Their own 
problem would be satisfactorily sobbed, and society’s 
partially. Indeed, one may well go farther and solve 
the whole industrial question in the same way. 
Efficiency everywhere, among all workers, of whatever 
degree, would abolish poverty as well as crime, and 
bring about a condition of things as near like the mil¬ 
lennium as can ever be established. 

\ Thorough training will always insure women plenty 
of employment and good pay. Without it they can 
never be successful in managing a business of their 
own. 

Incompetency is not peculiar to women. Men are 
afflicted in the same way, but to not quite so pitiful 
'an extent. They have more training, because they 
understand better the need of it; and are brought up 
to know that they must make places for themselves in 
the business world. 

Any one who has ever advertised for employees in 
any department of industry where trained hands or 
heads were needed, knows that out of seventy appli¬ 
cants for one situation not three, on trial, will prove com¬ 
petent. The calmness with which they admit their 


36 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


inability to do the very work they ask for is amazing. 
Some go so far as to indignantly resent any suggestions 
of training, promptly announcing that they have 
“ never been obliged to work before.” They want it 
understood that they consider training for any service 
whereby they can earn their bread, a discreditable ex¬ 
perience. Their claim to respect is based upon their 
utter uselessness. 

No woman will succeed who is so shamefaced about 
her business that she must apologize for being engaged 
in it. Employers do not want her, and if her business 
is her own, people will not deal with her if they can 
help it; or if they do they will laugh at her. That 
which she thinks helps to sustain her in the respect of 
others simply makes her ridiculous. Nothing so wins 
the respect of others, as self-respect, but this quality 
and affectation have nothing to do with each other. 
The woman who truly respects herself will do whatever 
she undertakes as well as she can. Self-respect will not 
permit her to give less than her best. It is the true 
way to honor herself, and is also the true way to be 
honored by others. Though her work be the humblest 
it will be done with all her heart and mind in it. 

Aside from the better pecuniary return it brings, 
there is great pleasure in doing one’s work well. It brings 
development. The law is that if we exercise our facul¬ 
ties, they grow: if we don’t use them they become in¬ 
active and eventually unserviceable. Nature rewards 
the woman who does her best by constantly adding to 
her strength in all directions. It is the law. As we 
give we shall get. 

Look at the men who have built up and manage great 
establishments. Do any of them ever reach a point 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


37 


when they relax their vigilance and leave the business 
to run itself? Never. They are always alert to im¬ 
prove, enlarge, invent, experiment and advance. They 
keep in close touch with the public taste, and are ready 
to supply its demand as soon as formed. They put 
their minds into their work, take pride in it and find 
pleasure in it. The result is not only that dollars 
come rolling in upon them plentifully, but they are 
rewarded by greater mental power all the time. 

There is no limit to the capacity of the human mind, 
when concentrated on any object of pursuit. It grows 
by giving itself out, the growth being always in the 
direction in which it concentrates itself. Effort always 
calls forth new light on whatever it is centered. In 
this way come all inventions and all manifestations of 
genius. 

Who is the successful doctor? Not she or he who, 
after being graduated sits down to wait for patients in 
the belief that there is nothing more to be learned. Of 
• such an one we often hear it said, “ He used to be a 
first-rate doctor, but he doesn’t keep up with the times 
any more.” So they don’t employ him. People wish 
to be physicked as well as dressed in the most modern 
way, and they do not want a doctor who does not give 
his best energies to his profession. Incompetence on 
his part may mean death to them. 

Who is the dressmaker whose rooms are always 
crowded with customers, who is driven with work ? Not 
the mediocre who does average work ; but she who 
studies her subjects, strives for the best effects, taxes 
her ingenuity to the utmost to invent new forms and 
combinations and is satisfied with nothing short of per¬ 
fection. Every woman knows how difficult it is to 


38 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


have dresses made satisfactorily. Dressmakers swarm, 
but expert ones are few. 

Many deplore that woman’s work is not justly com¬ 
pensated. The real want is on the other side. Trained 
and capable women can command good pay any time, 
but they can seldom be found. The pay is always ready, 
it is the trained workers who are lacking. In the com¬ 
mon class of industries, where a few days’ practice will 
qualify any one for the place, poor pay is the rule, and 
employers often fix wages as low as they dare. But 
where skill is required and women put their heart and 
mind and strength into their work they are likely to be 
well paid. When they learn to love their calling and 
strive to make it one with themselves, putting their 
personality into it, making it as nearly perfect as pos¬ 
sible, they will be masters of their fortunes and des¬ 
tinies. 

They are too much given to half-lieartedness in busi¬ 
ness. They do not put their whole energy into it, but 
rather treat it as a thing they did not expect to bother . 
with very long. They don’t try to learn everything 
about it and improve their method of performing it, but 
are contented with just enough knowledge of it to en¬ 
able them to slip along and get paid for it. Perhaps, 
deep down in their hearts, they are always longing to 
get out of it, and looking for the prince who will carry 
them away. That sort of thought is sure to bear 
slovenly and unhappy fruit. It is giving a divided 
faith to their most important worldly interest, and there¬ 
by crippling their financial future. 

A metropolitan carpet-dealer says that women are 
seldom successful as designers of carpet patterns, though 
they have been trying to do this work in recent years. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


39 


Their designs are pretty enough, but they are not 
practical—not adapted to the loom, they “ won’t weave,” 
as he expresses it. Designers should be thoroughly famil¬ 
iar with the mechanical working of the loom. There, 
again, and from a thousand other quarters, comes the 
complaint of women’s lack of practical training for the 
work they undertake to do. Why does not the designer 
take a course in carpet-weaving, and so learn the prac¬ 
tical part of her profession ? 

A Southern writer says women workers lack three 
essential things : “ Thorough training, a more convenient 
dress and a greater disregard for Mrs. Grundy.” 

There is no excuse for incompetent women workers. 
They have the same training in the schools and colleges 
that men have ; and now that they share the benefit of 
industrial schools and practical lectures, their ignorance 
and inefficiency cannot be pardoned. “ It is not only in 
accord with Natural Law, but with common-sense, that 
individual energy and ambition and persistent training 
in a particular department are necessary for much prog¬ 
ress in any line of effort. . . . Society is composed of 
two classes, the independent and the dependent. The 
question as to which of these two classes a man will 
belong is, under all ordinary conditions, a matter of 
individual choice. The road to independence is open, 
and finger-boards are up on every corner,” says Henry 
Wood. 

Make yourself competent if you would be successful 
in your undertakings. Upon thoroughness and fidelity 
in whatever your work is at home or elsewhere depend 
your prosperity and happiness. If your work is home¬ 
making for your family, then do that to the best of your 
ability, and try to improve in it all the time, not solely 


40 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


in that part of it which involves the machinery of the 
household but in that which includes the spirit of the 
home. 

From a paper by Mrs. Harriet Williams Russell-Strong, 
of Los Angeles, California, a successful business woman, 
on “ Business Training for Women,” read at the suffrage 
congress of the Columbian World’s Fair, the following 
extracts are taken: 

“ In every state in the Union are business women 
(not salaried workers) who are acting as principals at 
the heads of various branches of business who have 
gained the respect of the business world, denied to 
women as a class. They are proving that what is pos¬ 
sible for a few is also possible for the many. 

“ Women and children are suffering greater hardships 
to-day through lack of business knowledge on the part 
of women, than through any other cause. 

“ The honesty of women already has a commercial 
value in the business world. 

“ The franchise would assist women in business ; on 
the other hand a knowledge of business is an essential 
factor in the proper exercise of the franchise. We 
cannot afford to make mistakes now. 

“ What are the fathers of America doing for their 
daughters to-day? They provide for them no dower, no 
settlement, no profession, no business interests or part¬ 
nership. Everything that relates to the future of girls 
is haphazard, unsubstantial and illusive—in all classes 
the same. The remedy is at hand—instruction, prac¬ 
tical education and employment made honorable, not 
ignoble. This can be done by proving good work pos¬ 
sible, and making the only disgrace in work the doing 
of it badly. 

“ Eight years ago when the weight of business was 
laid upon me, in utter ignorance and helplessness I 
essayed to carry it, and you may be surprised when I 
say to you there was nothing done or established by any 


WOMEN IN TIIE BUSINESS WORLD. 


41 


woman or set of women that could' help me in business. 
If there had been a business college worth the name, I 
could have learned in a short time much that I needed 
to know at once. It cost me six years of time and many 
thousands of dollars to learn that I must never sign a 
contract without submitting it to my attorney. The 
usual method when a woman is left with property, is to 
turn it all into money, invest it in interest-paying bonds 
and live on a reduced income. I think every woman left 
with an established business should continue it, taking 
up the management just where her husband left off. 

“ The present business colleges teach little more than 
stenography, book-keeping and type-writing. The 
living, stirring, business world is where our business 
men are trained, and there, too, should women be 
trained. 

“ Let women and girls lose no opportunity to learn 
something about business; ask questions, read trade 
journals, the newspapers, and, most important, begin 
with a close study of the laws regulating the property 
and persons of women and children. Study the laws 
regulating taxes ; learn what is property and how many 
kinds of property there are. Learn all you can about 
mortgages, deeds, contracts, deeds of trust, etc. Study 
such questions as the tariff, reciprocity, currency and 
the coinage of money. You may think these subjects 
dry; they are not so dry as the bread of the wage- 
earner. 

“ Does any one think business study and knowledge 
unworthy of time and attention ? There is more in that 
word business than is generally supposed. Let me again 
remind you that the first recorded words of the Master, 
and to His mother, were these: 4 1 must be about My 
Father’s business.’ ” 


42 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


V. 


PERVERTED PRIDE. 

Women have more perverted pride than men have, and 
to this quality they frequently owe their life-long poverty. 
They are so afraid of doing something “ menial,” that 
they rarely receive the proper training for any pursuit. 
Their absurd devotion to what they consider the “ gen¬ 
teel ” employments, keeps them always at the door of 
pauperdom. 

As a rule men are not so weak-minded. They go to 
work on the very lowest plane of the business they in¬ 
tend to pursue and work upward. By so doing they 
learn everything pertaining to it, so that when they 
become proprietors themselves they cannot be imposed 
upon by incompetent workmen. They lose nothing in 
self-respect or the respect of the public, either; and 
they are never ashamed to tell of their humble begin¬ 
ning. Should disaster overtake them, and a fresh start 
have to be made, they don’t hesitate to take whatever 
comes to hand, however humble, and watch a chance to 
go higher. 

Men who have been millionaires have afterward sawed 
wood and broken stone for their bread, and again be¬ 
come millionaires. When they have the right kind of 
stuff in them they can’t be kept down no mor^ than a 
squirrel can be kept on the ground. r 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


43 


Women are seldom willing to begin at the very be¬ 
ginning of a business; or if they do they conceal the 
fact as though it were a dire disgrace, which isn’t 
evidence of good sense. Honor and glory belong to 
climbing. They should have pride in it. To overcome 
hindrances not only benefits them in character, but helps 
the world by example. 

If they would put money in their purses, be inde¬ 
pendent and important financial factors in the commu¬ 
nity they must change their ideas of what constitutes a 
lady,—and what adds to or detracts from their dignity. 
It is not what they do, but what they are, that gives them 
the respect of society, after all. The truth of this is 
proven over and over by the few who have the sense 
and strength to do whatever comes to hand. As society 
becomes more enlightened in regard to what is good for 
its individual bodies and souls, what is now called 
w menial ” work, instead of being shunned by a larger 
number of people, will be done by the most cultivated 
as well as by the unlearned. Taste and the inventive arts 
will simplify and beautify it; and higher ideals of life 
will remove from it the stigma of the world's contempt. 
Efficiency with the hands as well as the head will be a 
necessary part of education; and helplessness and idle¬ 
ness as much a reproach as crime. We will then find 
our recreation in doing something which will produce 
something, instead of expending our time and energies, 
as now, in trifling games wdiose only object is to give 
the body exercise and kill that most precious thing, 
time. 

“ The Traveler from Altruria,” says that in his coun¬ 
ts y they consider exercise for exercise’s sake a wicked 
waste of force, and little short of lunacy. 


44 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD, 


The apostle of the new order is already here. Count 
Tolstoi not only points the road, but travels it. His 
manual-labor gospel has sure salvation in it. If all mere 
brain-workers and idlers would do two or three hours’ 
physical work every day, how great would be the gain 
to the world in prosperity, health, fraternal spirit, im¬ 
provement in methods and nobler ideals. If one has 
not the work to do for oneself, one’s neighbor has 
plenty. 

A change of work is rest. Riding wheels, rowing, 
fishing, playing games—these pastimes are work mas¬ 
querading under the name of play, but recreation should 
be made profitable to somebody as well as pleasurable 
to the performers. 

“ Service is the price we pay for living.” The more 
and greater variety of it we do the more fully and nobly 
shall we live. 

The Man of Nazareth told us how to look upon 
“ menial ” work. When asked who should have pre¬ 
cedence among His disciples, He answered, “ He who 
would be greatest among you, let him be thy servant.” 
Isn’t that plain enough ? The greatest is he who is most 
willing to serve others. “ Thy servant,” would imply 
a degree of service we call by that withering word 
“ menial.” 

“ The idea that manual labor is in itself degrading, 
and to be avoided as far as possible, is the delusion of 
the present time,” says a well-known writer on eco¬ 
nomics. “ There is no natural aristocracy of the mental 
laborer over the physical that is based upon his greater 
necessity to society. The engineer who runs a locomo¬ 
tive is in a higher grade of occupation than he who 
wields a pick, for the reason that there is more of the 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


45 


intellectual element in it. The higher grade is in the 
occupation, for the man that uses the pick is not neces¬ 
sarily lower as a man.” 

Instinctive admiration for the intellectual element 
drew the lines in the first place ; but there is no need 
to keep them drawn when education becomes general. 
If the man of the pick is educated, the use of it does not 
rob him of his education or manhood. The only sensible 
reason for avoiding manual labor is that it brings a 
smaller remuneration than work requiring more brains 
and less strength; but to refuse it and starve or be de¬ 
pendent, because it isn’t “ genteel,” is flagrant folly for 
man or woman. 

In new countries, among pioneers, there are no such 
delusions. The standard of importance is usefulness. 
Men and women who can do something toward bring' 
ing comfort out of crudeness are the only acceptable 
'members of society. Not until a community becomes 
sufficiently settled to have idlers do such follies enter. 
These, be they rich or poor, are curses of society. They 
are the vehicles of decay. Their example and influence 
are pernicious. An economic system which would rid 
the world of them, would also set it free from poverty, 
intemperance, improvidence and perverted pride. 

Trying to help women to help themselves was an in¬ 
teresting school of experience to Helen Evartson Smith. 
Assuming that women suffering from poverty simply 
lacked opportunity to earn a comfortable subsistence, 
she succeeded in having small dairies established in the 
poorer parts of New York city where the best of milk 
could be bought at the price of the worst. Each of 
these was under the care of a woman, who thus had 
living wages for light, respectable service. The wages 


40 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


were $6 a week where a room was attached to the store 
in which the woman could live, and $7 where Inhere 
was none. 

Milk, cream, butter, eggs, oatmeal, crackers, cheese, 
tea, coffee and sugar were on sale and were free for her 
personal use. Thirteen of these dairies were opened, 
and that meant that thirteen women were set up in 
business who before were in dire distress. They were 
chosen as the best out of a great number known to the 
benevolent organizations of several churches. In ad¬ 
dition to selling the articles enumerated they were to 
keep the store clean and in good order. 

After a trial of these 44 experiment stations,” which 
lasted through eight years of whole-hearted effort and 
earnest striving to better the financial condition of both 
employees and customers, they were closed with a record 
of losses, the worst of which was the loss of faith in the 
honest desire of all women not viciously inclined, to 
earn a living by any sort of honest work that offered 
itself. 

In summing up the causes of failure Mrs. Smith 
says: 44 1 learned that a superior mental and moral 
training is necessary to render women willing to do any 
sort of work they have not been accustomed to consider 
4 genteel.’ My small essay to do good did not take 
into account the fact that it is only those women w’th 
more than ordinary intelligence who are fitted to strike 
out into new lines of work. Nor did I know that to be 
well-fed, comfortably housed and paid does not com¬ 
pensate and content the mass of women for performing 
certain work appertaining to the cleanliness of human 
habitations—work which they seem to have agreed 
to term menial when undertaken for hire.” 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


47 


Out of two hundred women who were employed only 
eleven proved competent. One great trouble was a total 
lack of desire to fit themselves for the business they 
had undertaken, the main cause of which was the thought 
that their friends, acquaintances and even strangers 
would despise them for doing 44 menial service.” Rather 
than put coal on the fire, keep the shop tidy and per¬ 
form other service of a similar character, one by one they 
went back to damp, gas-lighted cellars to write circulars, 
or make corset-covers at a cent and a half apiece, or 
other situations equally unwholesome and distasteful 
which they did not consider 44 menial,” and there some 
of them died of 44 notions,” which Mrs. Smith says is 
good New Englandese for perverted pride. 

There’s no such thing as menial work. The woman 
who learns this early in life will get on comfortably. 

The idea of many untaught workers is that they can’t 
be ladies if they do anything 44 menial,” and to be a lady, 
' in their opinion, is to be good for nothing. 

This fear of serving in some humble capacity is the 
sure mark of underbreeding. The genuine gentlewoman 
meets adversity with calm courage, and serves at what¬ 
ever comes to hand. The indifferently educated young 
woman mistakenly assumes that her employment fixes 
her place in public respect. 


48 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


VI. 

THE HOAD TO SUCCESS. 

Success, like everything else, has its price. One of 
the wise men said, “ Take whatsoever ye wish and pay 
the price.” This is all we have to do to possess any¬ 
thing. The trouble with the unsuccessful is they are 
not willing to pay the price of success. They want to 
keep their cake and eat it too. 

The science of success is simple, in spite of the vast¬ 
ness of the army who fail to learn it. Eternal vigilance 
is its price as well as the price of liberty or any other 
thing worth striving for. Whatever our object in life 
may be we must pursue it with never wavering single- 
heartedness and fidelity if we wish to win. Noth¬ 
ing is attained by fitful application. Forces must be 
concentrated, and then steady, undeviating application 
will work the problem. There must be no shilly-shally¬ 
ing. We must give our minds to it; put ourselves, 
yes, our souls into it. “ ’Tis not in our stars, but in 
ourselves ” success or failure lies. Everything is within 
us, and the secret of making that which is within take 
outward shape is no secret at all. It consists in devot¬ 
ing our energies to it. 

Even if we know nothing of a business at the start, 
it is astonishing how fast we will learn if we do but set 
about it in earnest; and how new light will come to us 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


49 


all the time regarding whatever our minds are fixed 
upon if >ve desire it and look for it and do not make 
the mistake of locking ourselves up against the visiting 
angels we call new ideas. The more any faculty is 
used (not abused), the stronger and more flexible it 
becomes. A Frenchman said that whenever he wanted 
a book on a certain subject and could not find it, he 
wrote one. There is a great lesson in that. It means 
that each one of us can find out as much about anything 
we wish to be informed upon as any other human being 
in the world, if we .determine to do so. We can 
achieve anything another can if we make up our mind 
to and make the determination a law of our life. Back 
of all achievement lies the desire, the intent, the fixed 
purpose, the determined WILL. This is the great 
force, the only force in the universe. The earth itself 
“hangs in the Will of Grod” 

Success has its laws, the basic principle of which is 
“ Give your best to get the best.” What makes a good 
bicycle rider, piano player, doctor, lawyer or writer? 
Study, application, practice. There is a performer on 
wire in London who is the wonder of the world. He 
practiced five years before he could do the simple feat 
of walking a tight wire carrying a balancing pole. He 
had no talent for the work, and everybody said he would 
never be anything but a tyro in it. Lie was determined 
to become one of the most brilliant performers in the 
world; and in spite of all discouragement kept on 
practicing five years more, until now he can do unheard- 
of things in his profession. He walks, leaps, dances, 
turns somersaults on the rope, while booted and spurred 
as for a ride in the park, and says he can see with his 
feet as well as with his eyes. He has won brilliant 
4 


50 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


success by paying the price, which was fidelity to the 
pursuit he determined upon. He operated in accordance 
with the law that governs achievement. In other 
business as well as in husbandry we must first sow be¬ 
fore we can reap. We get back according to what we 
give. This law holds good in all relations of life. If 
we give but a half-hearted devotion we shall get only a 
half-hearted return. We cannot afford to be stingy of 
our energies if we are wooing, fortune. The employee 
who is afraid of doing too much never reaches the 
top. The one who does more than he is paid for 
usually does. What he gives extra in industry and 
energy is not simply given to his employer, but is a 
part of the seed he is sowing for his future harvest. 
It is the business bread cast upon the waters, which 
will return to him, after many days. 

A writer on mental forces says : “ Think success, 
and you win success.” The explanation is simple 
enough. To think success, is to pursue it confident 
of attaining it,—to keep the mind on it; and when 
we keep our mind on a thing, we naturally bend all 
our energies toward achieving it. 

Mark Twain’s story of the £1,000,000 bank-note 
which made a great fortune for the man who carried 
it in his waistcoat pocket and displayed it frequently, 
though he was actually without a penny to his name, 
is based on the great philosophic truth, that success 
attracts success, and a cheerful, serene, confident 
state of mind compels prosperity. 

Naturally enough, we put more faith in the man who 
has confidence in his own ability than in one who is not 
sure of himself. Faith in one’s power to conquer is the 
first requisite of winning. Faith precedes all fruition. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


51 


The person who expects to make money by means of 
a lucky hit in business is in a fair way to go through 
life poor. Lucky hits are often the result of very 
deep study and very close attention to the matter in 
hand. Many unlucky misses have been made before 
them. 

A well-known New York merchant tells of a young 
man who began in his house as errand-boy, and was pro¬ 
moted until finally he was taken into the firm. When 
asked what led to this success, the merchant answered: 
“ I should say the secret lies in attention to business.” 
He let outside matters drop and devoted himself heartily 
and thoroughly to the details of his work. We can go 
to the Bible for a good rule in business: “ He that is 
faithful in a few things shall be made ruler over many.” 
A man cannot be successful who is not interested in 
what he has to do, and who does not give attention to 
the details. 

' A celebrated man of business, when giving advice to a 
boy who wanted to know what he should do to begin a 
career, said: “The great thing to do for the business 
boy is to throw him into something; I should not be 
particular what, so that it gave him a chance to begin ; 
and make him understand that he is to make his way 
from that point. I should tell him, 4 Get to work in the 
quickest way possible,’ and I should emphasize this to 
him, thinking it more important that he should go at it 
than that he should go at it in any particular way. Go- 
at-it-iveness is the first condition of success, and stick- 
to-it-iveness the second.” 

All the advice or instruction addressed to boys or men 
on this topic is equally good for girls or women. There 
is no sex limitation in the law of success. Its methods 


52 


WOMEN IN THE B USINESS WORLD. 


of operation are the same, whether man or woman be the 
operator. 

Be faithful. That includes all other commands. To 
him who is true and faithful success is promised. 

George McDonald says: “ All that we need in this 
world is to be had.” 

The first condition of success in money-making is the 
choice of a calling for which you are specially adapted. 
The next is, apply yourself diligently to your chosen 
pursuit; do that well which you have undertaken to do. 
Do not diffuse yourself over too much ground. Concen¬ 
trate, concentrate, concentrate. 

A newspaper editor says : 

“ Success in business and the affairs of life does not 
come by chance. There are certain elements which, 
properly combined, as certainly produce success as the 
combination of certain gases produce water. The suc¬ 
cessful business man is a specialized creature. His tastes 
run in a certain direction, and run so strongly that his 
vital energy flows in that direction. A combination of 
certain elements produces a definite kind of character, 
and character determines one’s place in life. Some of 
these elements are natural and some are acquired, so 
that it is as much the fault of the individual as of nature 
if he does not succeed. The average failure in life is 
owing to improper training or neglect to make the most 
out of the material.” 

But what is success? A friend of mine says that 
pecuniarily any man’s life is a success who, by his own 
exertions, keeps out of the poor-house. 

The definition is a good one. The men and women 
who have never been dependent, and yet owe their inde¬ 
pendence to their own exertions, cannot be said to have 
failed. Therefore they have succeeded. 



WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


53 


Success is achievement. He who achieves in a mod¬ 
erate degree may felicitate himself on having escaped 
disaster quite as much as he whose success is brilliant. 
Both have avoided defeat, and that was the main pur¬ 
pose of their business career. 

The woman who earns six hundred dollars a year 
should not be discontented because she knows of other 
women who earn five thousand. The former is succeed¬ 
ing according to her ability, energy, and environment. 
Perhaps with larger opportunities she could achieve 
greater success ; but, if so, she will find the way or make 
it. “ Ask, and ye shall receive ; knock, and it shall be 
opened,” is as true in the industrial as in the spiritual 
world. One’s salvation depends upon one’s own asking 
and knocking. 

Any woman who “ contentedly earns and eats her own 
bread ” has achieved success in the financial world. She 
has no need to look upon herself as anything but a suc¬ 
cessful and useful member of society. If she can do 
this, she may do more, but she has achieved financial in¬ 
dependence, though it be but a limited independence, and 
may congratulate herself accordingly. To achieve opu¬ 
lence or a more generous independence would be agree¬ 
able and may be possible ; but, even without it, she may 
consider herself successful. 


54 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD . 


VII. 

BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY. 

LET YOUR INTENTIONS BE KNOWN. 

A young girl just home from college put a card in a 
daily paper of her city, announcing that she would be 
glad to give lessons in Latin. A few days later the 
most venerable and successful business man of the-town 
said to her: “ I saw your card in the paper, Cornelia, 
and wish to congratulate you on starting out right. It 
is always a good thing in business to let your intentions 
be known.” 

Yes, it is the most necessary thing. In other places 
in this book this point will be emphasized. I shall 
say over and over again, that no one can do business 
who stays in a corner, or who does not keep in touch 
with the world, either by means of the public prints or 
other methods. Letting one’s intentions be known has 
a great effect on one’s income. If we want the world’s 
patronage, we must keep it reminded of our where¬ 
abouts and our willingness to serve it. Don’t fail to let 
your intentions be known. 

THE PHILOSOPHY OF WAITING. 

To all will come times when they don’t know what to 
do, when there is apparently no chance to work, and yet 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


55 


tlie needs are pressing. Then it is that the greatest 
thing that can be done must be done—that is, to wait. 
This is the hardest work in the world to do, but it has 
its divine uses. Remember, “ they also serve who only 
stand and wait.” While you are waiting all the affairs 
of life are moving on, and the tide will bring you some¬ 
thing if you have strength and patience. It takes great 
courage to wait when the clouds hang low, but the re¬ 
wards will come. Prentice Mulford, who now dwells 
in the world of realities and not shadows, said: 

“ When you don’t know what to do in any matter of 
business—in anything—wait. Do nothing about it. Dis¬ 
miss it as much as you can from your mind. Your pur¬ 
pose will be as strong as ever; you are then receiving 
and accumulating force to put on that purpose. It 
comes from the Supreme Power. It may come in the 
shape of an idea, an inspiration, an event, ail opportu¬ 
nity. You have not stopped while you so waited. You 
liave all that time been carried to the idea, the inspira¬ 
tion, the event, the opportunity, and it has also been 
carried or attracted to you.” 

The great mistake we all make is in thinking that we 
are “ on our own hands,” that we are wholly and en¬ 
tirely dependent on ourselves. The truth is, we are 
never absolutely on our own hands. While it is intended 
that we should put forth effort and develop whatever 
ability we may have, nevertheless, we should realize at 
all times that we are in the care of that Supreme Intel¬ 
ligence in which we live and move and have our being. 
An attitude of faith on this point will make everything 
easier for us, and relieve us of terror. 

How often we have seen women wringing their 
hands in pitiable fear of poverty, acknowledging its 
power over them. When they did this they were 


66 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 

actually inviting poverty to enter and rule them, 
though they did not know it. So craven is the cur 
Poverty, that if you face him boldly with a dauntless 
spirit, he will turn and run. Your attitude of mind alone 
often puts him to flight. But show him that you fear 
him, and he will snap and snarl at your heels for many 
a long mile of your weary road. Cultivate a mental 
attitude which says, “ I am afraid of nothing. The 
good things of the earth are the Lord’s, and therefore 
mine as much as anybody’s, and the wise and right way 
to possess them will be shown to me.” 

The desire to do, if persisted in, always opens the 
way to do. So, while you are waiting, destiny itself is 
working and bringing your opportunity nearer. Per¬ 
haps that which you expected is swept entirely out of 
your reach. Very well, then it was not for you; but 
something better will come your way. Accept the 
signs and be grateful. Yes, always be grateful. Close 
u£)on gratitude follow gracious gifts. 

Always look for and expect something better. If one 
minute, or one day, or one year has been lost, well, the 
next is yours ; use it according to the wisdom that comes 
to you. Even the wasted time may not have been 
wholly wasted. 

OVERCOMING DISHEARTENING OBSTACLES. 

Not having been trained to keep their eyes open for 
business chances, women are not so quick as men to 
strike out in new paths. This is one of the branches in 
the art of “ getting on,” which they must study. New 
fads and fancies are coming to the front all the time. 
Look well to the way they are received, and if there 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


57 


is a demand for them set about supplying it at once. 
Begin on a small scale, and grow. Don’t expect trade 
to come to you without your taking pains to let 
people know where you are and what you produce or 
perform. 

Whatever it is you offer, let it be the very best of its 
kind. Don’t make the mistake of thinking anything 
good enough that will be accepted. In that case you 
lose a customer every time you make a sale. Don’t 
affect indifference as to your success either, for your 
lukewarmness will have a chilling effect on others. If 
you show no interest in your own business, most as¬ 
suredly nobody else will take interest in it. People 
naturally resent indifference in such things. Be in 
earnest about it, and your earnestness will communicate 
itself to others. It is not necessary to bore people 
to do this, either. The greatest foolishness a woman 
can commit is to apologize for earning her bread. They 
who do this invite ridicule and contempt, and are 
always in the attitude of being ready to throw it all 
over and be done with it, at the first ghost of a chance 
to get out of it that looms up. That state of mind 
keeps them dragging along feebly instead of prospering 
all their lives. What would be said of the man who 
thought so meanly of his occupation, or of himself, for 
being engaged in it, that he continually offered excuses 
for not passing his life in idleness ? There are such 
men, and while some pity them for their weakness none 
respect them. To think meanly of yourself or your 
work is to cause others to do so. To respect yourself 
and your work will make others do the same. 

The woman who affects martyrdom because she is 
making herself of some use in the world, paying the 


58 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


price of living, for that is what service of all kind 
means, advertises her inferiority. She might as well 
put it into words and say, “ See what a poor, miserable 
creature I am, forced to perform labor I despise.” 

A woman in a western state was the mother of a 
feeble-minded son. In her efforts to develop his dwarfed 
intellect she invented a variety of childish entertain¬ 
ments, including pictures of many kinds enlarged and 
thrown on the wall by the aid of the magic lantern, lect¬ 
ures on natural history, and everything she could make 
interesting or instructive to the simple child. So well 
did she succeed that his mental faculties increased in 
power all the time, and at last developed into something 
but little less than ordinary. 

Soon after beginning these methods of entertaining 
and instructing him, she began to give parlor enter¬ 
tainments, inviting in other children, who were always 
delighted with them. She taxed her ingenuity to the 
utmost and invented features not thought of by anybody 
else. 

After her boy was large enough to be left in the care 
of others at intervals, she systematized her inventions 
and went from place to place giving a series of enter¬ 
tainments to small children, which were highly edu¬ 
cational as well as enjoyable. This now gives her an 
income of about two thousand a year over her traveling 
and other expenses. Several of Jier inventions have 
been adopted by the Kindergartens and the teachers of 
homes for the feeble-minded. 

Her love and sympathy for her son expressed itself in 
efforts to cheer and help his narrow life. This stimulated 
her ingenuity, which rewarded her with new ideas, for 
active effort in any direction always brings more knowl- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 59 

edge. Eventually this gave her the means of earning a 
comfortable livelihood for herself and boy, as well as 
bestowing help and pleasure on other children. Back 
of it all was the spirit of love. By giving love she re¬ 
ceived love and the other good things which follow in 
its train. Heaped up and running over is the way that 
kind of seed comes back. 

Her story illustrates the benefits of striving to im¬ 
prove whatever is defective, and overcome that which is 
disheartening. To them who overcome all good things 
are given. Had she spent her life bewailing the fact 
that she was the mother of a weak-minded child, instead 
of doing everything in her power to promote his growth 
and happiness, the end would have been very different 
for both. Nothing is clearer than that the sure way to 
help ourselves is to help others. 

It goes without saying that in order to make a busi¬ 
ness of her ideas she needed to systematize and shape 
them so they could be, as the merchants say, “ handled 
for the trade.” Besides that she had to have the faculty 
of getting herself before her public. Audiences are not 
found seated in public halls waiting for somebody to 
entertain them. They must be gathered together by 
whatever arts of attraction can be hit upon by the man¬ 
agers of entertainments. Doing this successfully is a 
great art in itself. 

In this case the woman did it herself. She was man¬ 
ager, performer and lecturer, all three. At first she did 
not know how to get audiences, but after a little practi¬ 
cal tugging at the problem she mastered it. By getting 
the co-operation of teachers of schools and Sunday- 
schools in every town or city she visited, the way was 
at last made comparatively easy. Drawbacks and dis- 


60 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WO BED. 


couragements were numerous at first, but she deter¬ 
mined to overcome them. 

No woman who reads this need fancy that she can 
take her particular phase of genius in her hand, as it 
were, and go on and reap a harvest, without having to 
get right down and put her shoulder fp the wheel in 
order to start the car moving. She must cultivate a 
faculty for pushing herself, must learn how to manage 
the business part of her profession, for upon this de¬ 
pends the life of her enterprise, whatever it may be. 

In this faculty women are lamentably deficient, and 
shrink from acquiring it. They are willing to do the 
artistic part of the work, but think it undignified to help 
let the public know what they can do. They choose 
dignity, or what they call by that name, and obscurity, 
rather than a little disagreeable effort in the beginning, 
followed by fame and prosperity. 

There is not a great actress living who did not at first 
exert herself to the utmost to get a hearing, in many 
cases doing all the practical business necessary to draw 
audiences. The woman who has something worth giv¬ 
ing the world must be willing to go to some trouble to 
catch its attention. It has its vanity, like the rest of 
us, and must be courted a little before it will smile upon 
us. It holds its favor worth seeking, and so it is. 

Women of talent and genius are numerous who sit 
around hiding their light under the bushel of perverted 
pride rather than ask for a hearing. They want to 
begin away up among the stars of their profession, and 
expect people to flock to hear them without ever having 
heard of them. 

Nearly all geniuses in dramatic art, music or letters, 
now eminent, have had their day of humbly begging for 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


61 


a chance to be heard. Such an experience, however 
disagreeable, is doubtless good for the soul, or it would 
not be so common. It may be the test of fitness to sur¬ 
vive, provided by the power that fixes the destinies of 
all. They who pass through it, overcoming obstacles 
and vanquishing difficulties, are accounted worthy, and 
receive their reward. They who retire from the conflict 
before it is even begun could not be victors in any case. 

Nothing pays better, if properly managed, than a tal¬ 
ent for amusing. All the world wants to laugh and 
enjoy, and will pay for the privilege. 

44 But how can I get it to hear me ? ” asks the woman 
of genius and no push. 

Train until you can do, whatever your work is, excel¬ 
lently. Then train in pushing 3 murself. Begin in par¬ 
lors, amusing small audiences, if necessary. Advertise 
yourself in whatever way you can. Keep your friends 
reminded that you are ready for engagements, and keep 
the thought always in your mind that you want a 
chance and will have it. If there are bureaus or agen¬ 
cies that can help you, apply to them; but don’t depend 
on them entirety. Ask the aid of your friends, but 
don’t depend on them to open the way. That isn’t their 
business, and it is yours. Many will promise to make 
opportunities for you, and will intend to do so, but will 
never fulfill their promises. What is not of vital inter¬ 
est to them they are not likely to do. The matter is of 
vital interest to you, and you must do it; and others 
expect you to do it, and will respect you for doing it. 

It will be hard and sometimes ugly work; but take it 
as part of your training in life-’s school, and it will prove 
valuable to you. After a while you can look back and 
laugh over it. Disagreeable as it may be, it will reward 


62 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


yon through more than one channel. It will strengthen 
your character as well as your purse; and will make 
you tender toward others who have the same thing to 
experience. 

A few women have been traveling business-managers 
for lecturers and readers, and have done their work well. 
A widow who had a home half paid for and four chil¬ 
dren on her hands, heard that a woman lecturer was in 
need of a traveling business-manager, and offered her¬ 
self for the situation. She had not had experience in 
that particular field, hut had tested her business capacity 
in other directions, and felt confident she could succeed. 
She undertook the work, and they arranged a division 
of profits. In six months she had her home paid for, and 
liked the business so well that she has not yet given it up. 

A woman of New York, a member of Sorosis, made a 
reputation for bright, witty, after-dinner speeches at the 
club’s banquet and other festal gatherings. As she 
earned her living in newspaper work, she was not exactly 
opulent. “ Why don’t you add to your income by teach¬ 
ing .other women how to say a few graceful words in 
public when called upon ? ” said a friend to her one day. 
The idea struck her as good, and she put it in practice. 
In Washington she organized classes in the hitherto 
untaught art of post-prandial speech-making, and had 
capital success, earning five hundred dollars extra by 
it in one season. 

At first glance it would be said that speech-makers 
of all degrees are born not made. That may be, but 
until they are trained they don’t know how to use their 
power. Also, nearly all women have the gift of graceful 
speech, if they are taught self-possession and how to 
think coherently when on their feet before an audience. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


63 


Like swimming, it is natural to all, but the ability to do 
it well is largely a matter of confidence, and confidence 
comes only by practice. 

It is incredible how few educated, well-informed women 
are masters of themselves to the extent of being able 
to rise before an audience, and, without previous prep¬ 
aration, express themselves creditably on whatever sub¬ 
ject may be under discussion, or any they may choose to 
speak upon. This is a beautiful accomplishment which 
may well be taught with profit to the pupil as well as 
the teacher. 

A woman who knows and can do some particular 
thing better than others can always find pupils willing 
to take instruction, if she will make the effort. This 
is the day of special teaching, and the newer and more 
unknown the thing taught the more numerous will be 
the pupils. None likes to be left in the rear when some¬ 
thing new is to be learned. It is not pleasant to know 
"that one’s neighbor is learning a new art, accomplish¬ 
ment or philosophy which we can’t. So all who can 
strive to partake of the fresh fruit. 

In these onward days new things and new ways of 
doing old things are continually coming to the front. 
There are tides in them that lead on to fortune for her 
who can perceive them and take them at the flood. 

The great movement in religious philosophy which 
has been the distinguishing feature of this decade has 
developed the capabilities of women as lecturers, authors 
and teachers, as nothing before has ever done. They have 
become the evangels of the new dispensation into which 
we are entering. As teachers and speakers in this work 
they have developed a power hitherto undreamed of, 
and an illumination nothing short of wonderful. 


64 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


VIII. 

CONDENSED COMMERCIAL WISDOM. 

BUILD UP YOUR OWN BUSINESS. 

The young woman about to choose a vocation should 
not sacrifice the independence of the future to the 
temporary prosperity of the present. Because a certain 
kind of employment brings in immediate and convenient 
return in the way of pay, she should not spend much 
time at it if it has no growth in it. From the beginning 
she should aim to fit herself for something in which she 
can become owner of herself and her talents,—either 
a profession which will pay her according to the ability 
and energy she puts into her work, or a business in 
which she may one day become a proprietor. 

If she simply learns something in which she can only 
be employed by hiring her services to somebody else, 
she is not on the right road to independence. It is well 
to learn the lesson of serving; but it is not wise to serve 
always. They who do, lose certain qualities necessary 
to strength and symmetry of character, in accordance 
with a law of nature which takes away from plants and 
animals whatever falls into disuse. Their independence, 
self-confidence and will to push forward leave them, 
and they become mere cogs in a wheel, creatures pitiably 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


65 


dependent in spirit, and cowardly to the last degree 
when it comes to a question of losing their situations. 
The weekly salary has a weakening effect on character if 
long received. The relief from responsibility which the 
recipient enjoys is his most insidious enemy, disinte¬ 
grating his manhood and making a parasite of him. 

The human mind is very malleable. It grows like 
that which it daily reflects, as in a looking-glass. En¬ 
vironment is a potent potter-shaping the vessel continu¬ 
ally into its likeness. It is not, then, strange that a con¬ 
dition of dependence long indulged in by any person 
makes of that person a weakling. The fact that he works 
and earns whatever money he receives makes no differ¬ 
ence in the belittling effect upon him. The knowledge, 
ever in his mind, that upon his employer’s favor hangs 
his chance of continuing in his place, makes him servile 
in spite of himself. He is less a man in the presence of 
his employer than elsewhere. The inferiority of posi¬ 
tion of one and the superiority of the other has an evil 
effect on both. They never really meet as equals. In 
the nature of things it is impossible. However much 
each may try to conceal it, he feels the difference in 
their positions. One holds the fate of the other in his 
hand, and both know it; therefore, there can be no 
equality in their intercourse. Self-interest cultivates 
toadyism and sycophancy on the part of the employee, 
and power breeds arrogance on the part of the employer. 
It is a state not good for the soul of either one. 

While it is true that an employee is really a co-oper¬ 
ator in the business he is engaged in, his rights as such 
are not always recognized. In establishments which 
have adopted co-operative methods in full, sharing the 
profits as well as the labor, the employee loses the feel- 
5 


66 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


ing of inferiority and dependence, and can stand in the 
presence of the highest functionary of the house as an 
equal. 

Without taking into consideration effects of this char¬ 
acter, all young persons, boys or girls, should aim to en¬ 
gage in something that has no limitations in the way 
of either pay or effort. Dear young girls, don’t drop 
into and stay in something like type-writing or clerking 
or any other thing which will keep you dependent on 
the whims of an employer, or compel you to seek for 
work at irregular and inconvenient intervals as long as 
you live. It is usually much easier and much more re¬ 
munerative to ask the patronage of the whole public 
than to ask one person to employ you. 

If you are engaged in something that is your own, or 
partly your own, whatever you do towards increasing its 
prosperity is capital invested whose interest is for you. 
When you work on a salary whatever you do of that sort 
of thing is capital invested for the benefit of somebody 
else. Build up your own business if you would be 
really independent. 

Women are more addicted than are men to hiring 
themselves out on salaries. The ready money coming 
in every week is very alluring and blinds them to the 
wider interests they are neglecting. Then, having had 
less experience in business, they shrink from assuming 
responsibility; and that actually pulls them away from 
good fortune, though they don’t know it. 

A newspaper woman in New York, who had held an 
important position as an editor for years, and then sud¬ 
denly found herself on the outside by one of those 
upheavals which, sooner or later, change all existing con¬ 
ditions, says: 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


67 


“ When I began newspaper work there were but few 
women engaged in it; and situations were hard to get. 
I felt so grateful to those who employed me, that I 
thought I never could do enough. I flung myself into 
it, heart and soul, and for over twenty years was faith¬ 
ful to one post. Well, I need not explain why,—only 
to say that through no fault of my own, my situation 
was taken from me. Then I saw, too late, that in all 
those years I had been diligently engaged in building 
up a business in which I had no share. My connection 
with the periodical I had devoted myself to did not go 
beyond that of any other employee. I could be dropped 
and was, just as easily as the errand boy. If I had put 
half the work and zeal I expended there into some busi¬ 
ness of my own, I would not now be where I am— 
stranded financially. Indeed, I believe I should be rich. 
I see that a good situation is by no means a blessing to 
either man or woman. The faithful employee of years 
has some moral rights not recognized in the general 
business code. It is a truly wicked thing to rudely 
hurl one from a situation she has held for years. Her 
long service in one place has unfitted her, to a great ex¬ 
tent, for new departures, indeed, for work anywhere else. 
I would urge all young girls starting in life not to dream 
of working on salaries, where they have no share in the 
business, any longer than they can get out of it. The 
end thereof is likely to be an empty purse in old age, 
and a heart-break.” 


CO-OPERATION. 

This is the greatest of all powers known for the 
abolition of poverty and the uplifting of the human 
race. When women generally take advantage of it their 
industrial problem will solve itself. What one may not 
dream of doing single-handed, two or more may do 
easily and well. In union is strength, and that which 
is finer and higher than strength,—sympathy. A com- 


68 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


munity of interests makes a common sympathy, and 
where this quality becomes active in all, the fraternal 
spirit comes into existence. 

Sympathy is the spiritual part of the co-operative princi¬ 
ple, and through sympathy all the nations of the earth will 
yet be united, and individual souls realize their oneness 
with each other. That co-operation will be the great 
feature of the industries of the future, no one able to 
read the signs of the times will dispute. Instead of 
division will come union; in place of isolated effort 
competing with itself, combined energy and skill will 
beautify and enrich the earth. A thousand hands work¬ 
ing in concert will do wonders, where single ones now 
try and fail. Achievements to-day but dimly con¬ 
jectured will be wrought out by this glorious principle. 

Co-operation underlies all stable government. It is 
the principle upon which the home is founded. Mar¬ 
riage is co-operative housekeeping with sentiment thrown 
in gratis. Women have always been engaged in co-opera¬ 
tive labor without realizing it, and often without receiv¬ 
ing their share of the profits. Now they should apply 
the principles of co-operation to the great problem of 
how to achieve financial independence. 

Perhaps four or five women each have a little money, 
and all are equally anxious to do something to earn 
more. The capital of each is too small to invest with 
profit in any way, so no one of them can go into business 
as proprietors unless she does so on capital not her own. 
Meantime, they are all worrying about what they shall 
do, and can see no way out. Why not unite their capital 
and their forces, and start in a business ? If they do 
this, however, it must be done with method. One must 
be appointed manager, and the others must make up 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


69 


their minds to abide by her decisions, which, as she is 
not supposed to be an idiot, is always more or less in¬ 
fluenced by the opinions of all. 

Of' course there is always the possibility that the 
partnership may not be pleasant. That contingency 
enters into everything we set about doing; but we do 
not desist in our undertakings because of it. One of 
the benign influences of all partnerships is, that they 
give us instruction in the delicate art of getting on har¬ 
moniously with each other. We have that to study wher¬ 
ever we are in life, in the home, in the school, in society, 
in business, in the boarding-houses where many worthy 
people are doomed to dwell together without any regard 
to congeniality whatever. Then why not make a point 
of studying it for business purposes, exactly as we study 
other things necessary to success ? Why not con¬ 
centrate the efforts we daily make to avoid unpleasant 
attrition, where we know it will be largely to our inter¬ 
est to do so ? 

Close contact with our fellow-beings must be good 
for us, or it would not be so incumbent upon us—so 
entirely unavoidable. Such a thing as absolute inde¬ 
pendence does not exist. If it did it would not be well 
for us, for it would be sure to develop selfishness. An 
enforced sympathy of interests holds us together until 
the true sympathy of spirit is recognized. 

Men have always been more co-operative in their 
instincts than women. In effecting business partner¬ 
ships they have not been influenced by the ridiculous 
fear that their associates might not prove agreeable. 
They join forces, determined to do their best. Being 
creatures of plainer speech and fewer prejudices than 
women, their contact is easier and safer; they work to- 


70 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 

gether better. Well, they have had experience in this 
kind of thing, while women are only beginning to learn. 

AN EVEN SEA. 

Two men were talking about the extraordinary luck 
of a friend. “ Everything seems to come to him without 
. trouble,” said one. “ While others are frantically tearing 
ahead, exerting themselves to the point of madness, he 
quietly moves on and money rolls in upon him, as though 
each dollar was bent upon reaching him and nobody 
else.” 

“ I believe I know the secret of it,” said the other. 
“ He rides an even sea. That is, he keeps his mind 
calm, and that attitude attracts what he desires. You 
call it luck; but it is a science in its way. Look about, 
and you will see that the people who accomplish most 
are not those who go tearing ahead like madmen. I al¬ 
ways try to keep out of the way of people who bang 
through life, just as I try to keep out of the way of 
cannon balls or other things too strongly charged with 
energy, and too unswerving in their course. The atmos¬ 
phere of hurry is fatal to achievement. Into the silent 
pool everybody is moved to cast a stone ; but the torrent 
that tears its way through walls and over precipices 
drives everything away from it. Its turbulence makes 
it impossible for it to retain anything. 

“ Our friend rides an even sea. In his mind are no 
troubled waters. He understands the art of saying, 
4 Peace, be still,’ to his thoughts, and they obey. The 
quiet of his mind is reflected in his manner, and that 
makes him agreeable to those who come in contact with 
him. He is not lacking in energy because he does not 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


71 


thresh about like a wounded serpent. The most irresist¬ 
ible form of energy is noiseless. Then, greatest of all 
accomplishments, he never speaks hastily, angrily, im¬ 
patiently or offensively,—not even in the shading of the 
tones; and that means that he is already in that king¬ 
dom, of which it is said that, when we have gained it, all 
other things shall be added unto us. I do not hesitate 
to say that the full control of the voice and speech, 
which rids them of all that can hurt or offend, will be 
followed by wonderful prosperity. I have never seen it 
fail. Our words and even our tones are fraught with 
power to make or mar our fortune. We can’t be too 
careful how we use them.” 


72 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


IX. 

LITTLE KEYS TO FORTUNE. 

SELF-DENIAL. 

This quality is ballast to a character. She who can¬ 
not deny herself every gew-gaw or little pleasure that 
looks alluring, will never get very far on the road to 
financial ease. The cultivation of self-denial is good 
for the soul, while self-indulgence is fatal in all respects. 
It weakens both character and business. 

She who, on beginning life on her own responsibility, 
determines to save something with which to operate as 
capital, and does so, lays the foundation for a successful 
business career. Both the money she saves and the 
character she builds by self-denial, make her success. 
This kind of saving is really using , and is not to be con¬ 
founded with mere hoarding for the sake of hoarding. 
Pleasure-loving people seldom have self-denial. They 
are the victims of their wants, little and big. One 
want creates another, and life becomes a continued 
ministration to their foolish desires. 

The child whose every want is gratified, rarely ever 
becomes a man of mental strength or eminence in any 
walk in life. The habit of self-indulgenee sticks to 
him after he is grown, and his destiny is sacrificed to 
his pleasure-loving and ease-loving instincts. 


WOMEN IN TEE BUSINESS WORLD. 73 

The value of self-denial reaches farther than its mon¬ 
etary boundary. It makes self-mastery, and this is the 
road to great spiritual as well as material possessions. It 
gives mastery over others and over circumstances. It 
is the key to happiness. There is a pleasure in con¬ 
scious self-mastery not found elsewhere. There is 
freedom in it. No one is so free as he who is his own 
and only master. 

“He must be a poor reader of biography who has 
failed to discover that the universal key to success is 
mastery of self,” says a writer on business ethics. 

All history teaches this. Wherever men or women 
have achieved anything, in any direction, it has been 
done by self-mastery, for this has in it persistency and 
all the elements necessary for the business of life. 

Cultivate this with an assiduity that knows no abate¬ 
ment. You can make or unmake yourself at will. If 
you want to acquire a habit of doing a certain thing, 
keep the thought of it in your mind, and oblige your¬ 
self to do it persistently and constantly. Practice cross¬ 
ing your impulses. Don't yield to little indulgences. 
Every one you refuse adds to your powder of self-control. 
Compel yourself to do disagreeable things if they are 
in the way of what you ought to do. The discipline will 
be excellent for you. When you are inclined to lag 
at your work, urge yourself to brace up and keep on. 
Persist in the face of obstacles and weariness. The gain 
in so doing is spiritual as well as material. It is a gain 
in power over everything. Nor is there unhappiness in 
this, as many suppose, if we may judge from the way 
most people shrink from it. On the contrary, self- 
mastery brings conscious strength, which is the root 
and trunk of happiness. Weakness cannot give 


74 


WOMEN IN TEE BUSINESS WORLD. 


pleasure. Momentary indulgence gives but a momen¬ 
tary delight. 

An eminent and uniformly successful man of business 
tells that he has made it a rule all through life to deny 
himself something he wants every day, for the sake of 
self-control. The lack of self-mastery, the absence of 
self-denial, is responsible for lack of success everywhere. 
They who fail are not willing to pay the price of suc¬ 
cess. Self-control is the price. 

THE TIME TO SAVE. 

Now is the time to begin. Not next week, or next 
month, or next year, but to-day, to-morrow and every-day. 
Save the nickels and dimes which jingle loose in your 
purse, and are so easy to spend. Put some away every 
day until you have one or two or five hundred dollars. 
Watch for an opportunity, and as soon as possible, 
invest this in something so that it will grow. Use it 
as capital to open a business on a small scale, or make 
with it a payment on a bit of property, or put it out at 
interest. Make it earn you something. It and the 
self-denial which accumulated it make the corner-stone 
of your financial independence in life. 

In the matter of personal expenses we are all more or 
less extravagant. This is the place to apply the eco¬ 
nomic pruning knife. We can do without many of the 
things we buy without actual inconvenience. They are 
not necessities but artificial wants, created by artificial 
conditions. We all spend money on things we should 
never think of wanting if we did not see them,—mere 
baits to woo the nimble penny from the pocket of the 
unwary. Great fortunes are made all the time by 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 75 

persons shrewd enough to know that everybody spends 
money foolishly. Each of us is a spendthrift in little 
unnecessary things. 

WHAT CONSTITUTES ECONOMY. 

But false ideas of economy have led many persons to 
ruin. Businesses have languished and died because 
their owners governed themselves by some old saw they 
believed to be wise, but which in reality had death in it. 
Sometimes the saw was well enough, but misapplied. 

The usual error is to mistake stinting for economy. 
“ A penny saved is a penny earned,” says the old 
proverb, which some live by till it kills them, as it 
inevitably will when applied without nice discrimination. 
There are times when the saving of a penny actually 
means the wasting of hundreds of dollars. It is always 
folly to save pennies at the expense of strength. To 
walk when you are weary, in order to save car-fare, is 
a piece of extravagance, though it is often done in the 
name of economy. 

The first, greatest and most essential economy con¬ 
sists in not wasting your forces, mental and physical. 
Use them judiciously, but don’t abuse them. They are 
your true capital. Throwing them away recklessly to 
save pennies is the destruction of your substance. To 
put time, thought and strength on saving five cents 
here and ten there, when the same forces applied to 
larger interests could bring you dollars, is being penny¬ 
wise and pound-foolish. Saving in rational ways is a 
virtue, in irrational ways a vice. Take care in this 
matter of saving. It is a dangerous virtue, insidious 
and subtle in its methods of enslaving its disciples. 


76 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


The miser was once a mere saver, who thought he was 
practicing honest economy when he took pains to lay up 
pennies. The habit grew upon him until it absorbed 
and chained him and dwarfed his soul. He no longer 
owns his goods ; they own him. He has saved until 
cupidity has driven every other quality out of his mind, 
and he has become a creature despicable in the eyes of 
all, a hideous example of “ what it shall profit a man if 
he gain the whole world and lose his own soul.” He 
has lost his already, for what is the destruction of all 
good qualities but the loss of one’s soul ? 

In reality the miser does not own the gold he has 
hoarded up. He lives in an illusion. Speaking from a 
true point of view we own nothing but qualities of mind 
and spirit; because these are the only things we can 
carry with us when we leave our bodies. “ What man 
can take his diamond ring with him into the invisible 
life?” asks George McDonald. 

“ Use brings gain; hoarding brings loss,” was the 
motto put on every page of one of Prentice Mulford’s 
philosophical pamphlets. Mere hoarding is but heaping 
up pain and trouble. Use what you have. That is the 
mandate of Natural Law. All nature obeys it. The 
animals understand and live it. The old must make 
way for the new everywhere. This is a law of growth. 
The new cannot come until the old is given up and 
makes room for it. If a tree held on to its leaves every 
winter because it was afraid the next spring would not 
be favorable, it would get no new ones, no matter how 
brightly the sun shone. 

This law is in operation in the business world as well 
as in nature. No successful merchant keeps his house 
crammed full of old goods for which there is no demand. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


77 


He works them off by selling them far below cost, 
making “ special sales,” “ bargain days,” and so on. 

Dealers in large properties do not make money by 
simply holding on to all they can get. They keep their 
eyes open for chances to sell what they are not operating 
and getting an income from. They “ unload ” whatever 
they are not using. If they did not they could not take 
advantage of opportunities to buy new. 

Make room for the new is the command all along the 
line, from the lifeless atom to the completed world ; 
from barbarism to the temples of art and learning; from 
the slavery of darkness to the freedom of light. This is 
the law of all evolution, material and spiritual. Make 
room for the new. 

In business it is imperative. Mere hoarding is death 
to prosperity. If every one in the business world simply 
saved all he could, and laid it away in feather-beds or 
old stockings, complete stagnation would soon overtake 
everything, and no business could be done. Buying 
newer and better clothes, houses, goods, all the time 
keeps money in circulation, makes work for the artisans, 
and prosperous times for the community. 

The law of gain is “ Let go,” rather than u Hold on.” 

In operating your business, in your manner of living, 
in dress, in everything, avoid the mistake of believing 
that economy consists in holding on to things you don’t 
use, or ought not to use. 

Women are more apt to make this mistake than are 
men, because they are unused to business methods and 
timid about expenditure. 

It is not economy to wear poor clothes. Let nobody 
persuade you to make such a blunder. Your clothing is a 
part of yourself. Do not allow it to misrepresent you. 


78 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


“ Costly thy raiment as thy purse can buy,” says 
Shakespeare, who was wise in many ways. But, re¬ 
member, it is thy purse, not thy friend’s, or neighbor’s, 
or creditor’s, that must buy it. Clothes and other ex¬ 
penses must be kept within your income if you would 
avoid trouble. 

If you can’t do this without wearing shabby clothes, 
then brush them up and wear them; but keep the 
thought ever in mind that you will soon have new ones. 
This will lead to the getting of them. The thing not 
to do is to keep a lot of old things, either clothes or 
other possessions, that you don’t use. 

I remember being in the house of a friend, a teacher 
in New York. It was Saturday, and she determined to 
spend a part of it in going over her wardrobe, to see 
what she needed and what she could dispense with. 

I sat chatting with her as she sorted over a number of 
gowns and bonnets. “ These,” she said, pointing to a 
goodly stack, u I shall give away.” 

They were all in very respectable condition yet, and 
I wondered why she had decided to discard them, as she 
was by no means opulent. 

Reading my thought, she went on to explain : “ I 
shall give them away, not because they are worn out, 
for they are not, but because I do not need them, and 
they will be very useful to somebody else while they are 
modish. It is economy to get rid of everything one does 
not really need; and the best way to do that is to give 
them away, here and there, wherever you think they 
will do the most good. Never sell old clothes. That 
is an abominable practice. Give them. There is good 
luck in it. 

“You need not look incredulous,” she continued; 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


79 


u there is a deeper philosophy involved in that assertion 
than appears at first glance. So long as yon keep old 
things about you, no new ones will come, and it is my 
belief that new clothes come quicker if you give away 
the old instead of selling them.” 

Perhaps moths are sent as emphatic hints that hoard¬ 
ing is not tolerated in the divine economy. 

In business, it is a well-known law that, the more 
money judiciously put out, the more comes in. Hoard¬ 
ing is fatal to success. Sow seed if you want a 
harvest. 

All this is not to be understood as advising against 
the practice of sensible saving, or as encouraging ex¬ 
travagance. To save for a purpose is a necessary feat¬ 
ure of all business ethics, and is splendid training for 
the individual. The point aimed at is not to save in 
unprofitable ways for the mere sake of saving or the love 
of hoarding. On the other hand, it is just as essential 
not to be extravagant. A good rule to observe is, neither 
buy nor hoard useless things. 

Foolish outlay is generally in little, unnecessary 
things. These are our extravagances, and should be 
our economies. 

The best is always the most economical. In business 
get the best help and pay the best wages possible. In 
that way you will best pay yourself. Strive to have the 
best of its kind of whatever you deal in. 

woman’s business sense. 

In London, after a big meeting of Women’s Associa¬ 
tions, an editor said: “You may take my word for it, 
those women are going to give somebody trouble yet. 


80 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


Indeed, the majority of women who take up a public 
career are excellent men of business—pardon the bull. 
If the same proportion of male busybodies were endowed 
with a similar amount of common-sense, this country of 
ours would be an Eden.” 

In Finland, more than in all other countries, women 
go into business. They are clerks, doctors, dentists, 
builders, managers and manufacturers. On account of 
their reputation for honesty, they are especially sought 
as bank cashiers. 

In this country women have had less than fifty years 
in which to develop any business sense. Only within a 
comparatively short time have they had the right to 
education, to free speech and to all occupations. Not so 
very many years ago, an indignant man at a town meet¬ 
ing in Massachusetts shrieked: 44 What! The public 
money to educate shes ? Never ! ” 

And still they labor under disadvantages. In the 
higher institutions of learning in this country and 
abroad, women by no means have equal privileges with 
men. The universities of Chicago, Michigan and Johns- 
Hopkins are opened to them, and they have a respect¬ 
able number of schools and colleges of their oWn. The 
facilities for medical study are still far from equal or 
adequate. Particularly in experimental study and prac¬ 
tice in hospitals women have few and unsatisfactory 
opportunities. Law schools are seldom open to them, 
and in many states they cannot be admitted to the bar. 
Only two of the orthodox denominations allow them to 
preach with the sanction of the church. If complaint is 
made that they are sometimes inefficient, let it be re¬ 
membered that they have been crippled in their efforts 
to learn. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


81 


THE BUSINESS ARMOR. 

“ If I were asked to tell what was the most necessary 
thing for a girl to know when starting on a business 
career,” said a woman whose life had been passed in the 
business world, and who now hlls a place at the top, “ I 
believe I should say to her, ‘Forget to be fascinating 
when in business.’ By that I mean that she is to lay 
aside the little airs and ‘ fetching ’ ways which remind 
the men with whom she comes in contact, that she is a 
woman, and that they are men. 

“No; girls, dear, I do not want to deprive you of 
making the most of your fascinations in the proper place 
and time; but I assure you that the office or business 
house is not the place for them. When you are engaged 
in business, wear your business manners and put out 
of your mind all idea of coquetry. It will save you a 
world of trouble, and help you upward in your career 
as much as anything you could possibly do. 

“ 11 is not necessary to go to the other extreme and act 
as though all men were monsters \yho must be treated with 
great severity to avoid their presumption. This is as 
great a violation of the etiquette of the business house, 
as being too fascinating and kittenish. You can be 
courteous, considerate, gracious even, to all whom you 
encounter, but you must do nothing which looks like a bid 
for homage from men. Don’t expect either concessions 
or attentions on account of your sex. Show by your 
manner that you are there to attend to business,—that 
and that only. Everybody will respect you for it, and 
the mouth of scandal will have nothing to feed upon. 

“ Wherever men or women are thrown together, envies, 
jealousies, and malicious stories start up like weeds, 
6 


82 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD . 


Be careful to do nothing to foster them. The most 
innocent acts and words are misconstrued and exagger¬ 
ated. A business house is like a village in the sense 
of everybody keeping watch of everybody else. A little 
leaning in the direction of a preference for some one is 
soon made a mountain of by the others. Clothe your¬ 
self in your business armor, and reserve all your pretty 
ways for your friends when you meet them socially. 

44 You will enhance your value as a business factor if 
you do, and save yourself from no end of petty and 
great troubles. This business armor is very easy to 
wear, after you have it fitted to you nicely, and will be 
a great protection to you. Indeed, it is your mental 
uniform, and is as potent to command room and respect 
in the performance of your duty as any uniform dis¬ 
tinguishable by the eye. The etiquette of the business 
office is as clear-cut as the etiquette of society, and any 
violation of it meets with the same penalty. Men and 
women should be automatons there. 

44 Many a bright, capable and self-respecting girl has 
made a failure of her career by making the disastrous 
mistake of being too fascinating in business, refusing to 
clothe herself in her business armor,-—sacrificing her 
usefulness to her desire to be bewitching, in other words, 
to her vanity.” 

KEEPING HOURS AND APPOINTMENTS. 

Never let a promise, however insignificant, go by de¬ 
fault. If you say you will do a certain thing or be at a 
certain place at a given time, don’t fail to live up to the 
appointment. Keep your word always, if it be a pos¬ 
sible thing to do. The effect on the minds of others is 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


88 


to give them confidence in you in all respects ; but the 
effect on yourself is still more important. Every time 
you fulfill a promise you strengthen your power of self¬ 
management and increase your faith in your own per¬ 
formance. 

There is religion of no mean order in conscientiously 
fulfilling all business engagements. Neglect in these 
matters shows lack of consideration for others, which is 
bound to react oil those guilty of it. We may set no 
value on our own time, or hold our own word in light 
esteem, but we have no right to needlessly consume the 
time of other people. If we do we shall pay for it, 
sooner or later, and at a high figure, too. A great sys¬ 
tem of evening up is going on all the time. The only 
way to escape its unfavorable adjustments is to give that 
which we wish to get. The faithful overcome all ob¬ 
stacles, and enter into their reward in business as well as 
elsewhere. 

If you advertise certain office hours, be faithful to 
them. By so doing you are contributing to the har¬ 
mony of the universe,—putting yourself in accord with 
universal accords,—and thereby insuring the conditions 
of success. Great, indeed, is the outcome of “ keeping 
your word.” Your word represents you, remember. 
Your observance or neglect of its obligations is a flash¬ 
light on your character, which the world reads cor¬ 
rectly. 

Don’t assume because the ten or twenty minutes later 
than the appointed time makes no difference to you that 
it is equally unimportant toothers. The spheres escape 
destruction by keeping their orbits and moving exactly 
on time. The law which governs them governs you 
also. 


84 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD . 


X. 

THINGS NECESSARY TO KNOW. 

WIVES UNDERSTANDING THEIR HUSBANDS’ BUSINESS. 

A wife should keep well informed regarding her 
husband’s business. This is her duty and should be 
also a pleasure, and it is his duty to instruct her, 
otherwise a day may come when all that he has accu¬ 
mulated may be swept away and she be left penniless be¬ 
cause of her ignorance. Sensible men know this, and 
do their best to make everything clear to their wives 
in regard to business methods and their own business. 
Often they are rewarded by receiving suggestions from 
them which prove of great value. Not infrequently a 
woman totally untaught in business affairs develops 
under instruction a genius for business which leads her 
husband to great good fortune. None of us know what 
astonishing possibilities are wrapped up in us, waiting 
to come forth when the doors of darkness are opened 
and the light let in. It is not strange that women often 
make gross blunders when they attempt anything in 
the world of business. It is an unexplored realm to 
them. How can they be expected to know that which 
they have never been taught? Are not men usually 
as absurdly ignorant of the work women do exclusively? 
With few exceptions, women have been brought up in 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


85 


utter ignorance of the business world to whieh they 
owe their subsistence. Sometimes they are by nature 
so gifted with business talent that nothing can keep 
them back, and, in the face of the time-honored mana¬ 
cles of public opinion, they become conspicuous exam¬ 
ples of successful operators in the business world. 
Talent of this kind is sexless. It is probably as often 
latent in the heads of women as men. Sometimes, on 
the death of their husbands, women, untrained for it, 
take the management of their affairs and bring order 
out of chaos, prosperity out of doubtful conditions. 
This can occur only when the wife is endowed with 
exceptional executive ability. The executive faculty is 
the money-making one. The woman who is an able 
organizer and executor in the home or society is sure to 
be successful in whatever she undertakes in a business 
way. This is a faculty any one can add to by cultivat¬ 
ing it. Remember the law: you attract what you 
will. Turn your thoughts in the direction of whatever 
quality you desire, keep them centered on it, and more 
of that quality will come to you. New light is always 
coming when we earnestly strive for it. 

The executive faculty should be trained in children 
early. It brings success and comfort. By systematiz¬ 
ing their tasks, and little by little putting responsibilities 
upon them, they learn to manage well, to make the most 
of their time, to expend their efforts economically and 
forcefully, and to plan for themselves. 

Women who have none of it, apparently, may do 
wonders by striving for it. It is never too late to mend. 
Self-reform is the greatest of all reforms. If each were 
to set about that, the millennium would soon be here. 
By that road only cau it arrive. Try to increase 


86 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


your executive talent all the time, even if you never 
need it for business. It will bring you great blessings 
in many ways. This is the quality that puts men and 
women in high places. No man lacking it would ever 
be made president of a great corporation or manager 
of a large establishment. It creates and keeps order, 
which is heaven’s first law in business as well as in 
nature. 


LEARNING BUSINESS METHODS. 

Women must learn business methods if they expect 
to be anything more than mere hirelings or ciphers in 
the business world. The earlier in life they can do this 
the easier and better it will he for them. The bearings, 
of common law should he as much a part of a girl’s 
education as is arithmetic or any other essential. A thor¬ 
ough acquisition and practice of business principles would 
prevent no end of misery among them in the indus¬ 
trial race. The mistakes made by women because of their 
ignorance of business-methods are pitiful. The best way 
to learn is to take practical instructions under some 
methodical, successful business man or woman.' 

In the one very important matter of letting the world 
know their intentions in business, they are often sadly 
untaught. They wonder why they are not better pat¬ 
ronized, when they have taken no pains to make it 
known that they expect patronage. 

Sometimes they are uninstructed in dealing with 
banks, in making contracts, in writing business-letters, 
in watching the fluctuations of trade, indeed, all the rudi¬ 
ments of a business education, and yet are in the busi¬ 
ness world, trying to swim in its current. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD . 


87 


INSTRUCTING CHILDREN IN BUSINESS METHODS. 

Teach your girls as well as your boys the ways of busi¬ 
ness. Begin while they are very young, and instruct 
them in the little matters of business of daily occurrence, 
particularly in the value of money. Make them see 
clearly that money is the price of effort, and is, therefore, 
not to he thrown away or spent without a return value. 
They will learn this best by being given little opportu¬ 
nities of earning some themselves, and being held re¬ 
sponsible for what they expend. Make it clear to them 
that they are not to give away the property of others, even 
though it be of trifling value. If they wish to be generous, 
well and good, but let it be with what is incontestably 
their own. Put business responsibilities of a small kind 
on them and insist upon despatch and accuracy in their 
performance. Urge them to keep a book of their own 
receipts and expenditures, and show them how to do it 
neatly. Send them from time to time to the bank to do 
business, and teach them how to fill out checks and write 
business-letters. In this way they will acquire correct 
business ideas and a respectable business education 
before they are fully grown, which is as necessary a 
branch of their education as reading or writing. 

LAW IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 

It is now well understood that everything is governed 
by law—all operations of nature and all the machinery 
of human affairs. “ The general perception of this stu¬ 
pendous fact is the greatest achievement of this century.’ 5 
“ Conformity to law is the key to progress, completeness 
and approximate perfection in every department, whether 
physical, mental, moral, or even spiritual.” 


88 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


Laws are methods of operation. Natural law is a 
convenient name for the expressions and methods of the 
Creator. These expressions and methods are as active 
in the business world as in any other part of the uni¬ 
verse. The great principle of which the law is an ex¬ 
pression is not absent from the market-place and the 
shop of the money-changer, because it is omnipresent 
and all-pervasive, and there is no place from which it 
can be absent. 

The business world is a part of the great machine 
whose operator is the life of all things and the intelli¬ 
gence that pervades all. The more we study the ma¬ 
chine the better we shall understand the parts of it. 
That part represented by the business world has its 
principles as fixed as those which govern the universe; 
indeed, they are but ramifications of the same principles. 
Natural law, or the will of God, is operative there as 
elsewhere. If we would succeed there we must put 
ourselves in harmony with the law, for through harmony 
all things are accomplished. “ All the forces of nature 
lend themselves unto accords. The comprehension of 
this is the key to the most marvelous discoveries of the 
future, to yet undreamed-of energy—aye, even to com¬ 
munication with other worlds.” 

Study how to act in harmony with the accords of the 
business world. Transgressors of any law, civil, hygi¬ 
enic, moral or physical, travel a hard road. 

In studying the laws of the business world one must 
never forget for an instant that they are all sub-divisions 
of the one Law, the expression of God’s will, which is 
Love. Any violation of that will bring its penalty. 
Everything that has in it any dishonesty, deceit, tyranny, 
falseness or unkindness is a violation, and will have its 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


89 


legitimate result as certainly as that two and two make 
four. 

The wages of sin is death in whatever form they are 
earned. The business man whose success is owing* to 
“ sharp practices ” has no success in the true sense of the 
word. That means higher character building as well as 
accumulating wealth. That which seems to be success, 
when obtained dishonestly, is an illusion, and will not 
endure. Unless one’s business life has made one’s name 
honored for fair-dealing, one has failed and not suc¬ 
ceeded. 

So much that is dishonorable is practiced in business 
relations now that the question whether fair-dealing is 
possible at all without certain ruin, has been seriously 
discussed in the public press. 

Mr. George Hodges, in the “ Chatauquan,” describes an 
attempt to find out something about the actual tempta¬ 
tions, sins and spiritual needs of men in business. To 
a score of business men he put these questions: “ Is it 
impossible to do business on Christian principles ? Is it 
true that, as the business world is at present constituted, 
men must commit sin?” (To succeed in it.) 

Strangely enough, some frankly answered “ Yes ” to 
both questions. A Young Men’s Christian Association 
decided recently, after a spirited debate, that honesty 
and success in business were incompatible. They evi¬ 
dently forgot that the Master said the reverse of this 
when He said, “ With what measure ye mete it shall be 
measured to you again.” That law has no exceptions. 
It is operative in the kingdom of trade as in all the 
relations of life. Honest dealing will bring honest 
dealing in return. Like begets its like. Shrewdness is 
the sword of business. He who uses it shall perish by it. 


90 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 

After weighing well the testimony, Mr. Hodges de¬ 
cided that it was entirely possible to conduct business 
on the principles of Christianity and be successful. Like 
Ruskin he believes that if religion is good for anything 
it is good for everything. The most Christian men he 
knows are successful business men. 

It is a mistake to suppose that business is bad in itself. 
Transactions for making money are not necessarily dan¬ 
gerous to morality. Money is not an evil; the love of 
it is. For this men do astounding and incredible things, 
restraining their consciences and violating natural law, 
and the end is destruction, spiritually and financially. 

No capital is so good as a reputation for honorable 
dealing. The law of retribution for dishonesty is as 
sure as the law of gravitation. Great business houses 
which endure and prosper exact the strictest honesty of 
all concerned in them, and avoid everything known as 
the “ tricks of trade.” Many of the bargains so entic¬ 
ingly described and numerously scrambled for are 
merely “ tricks,” and mean dishonest principles marketed 
attractively. 

“ The successful business men,” says Dr. Lyman 
Abbott, “ from the days of Abraham to those of our own 
day, have achieved their success, not by studying how 
they could squeeze the most out of their fellow-men, 
but how they could perform the greatest service by their 
commercial ability. Godliness has the promise of this 
life as well as of the life to come.” 

The great law in business is that of love. Working 
in harmony with it will bring rich rewards. There is 
no lying, cheating or stealing where it is recognized. 
If we love our neighbor we shall not want to take ad¬ 
vantage of him in any way. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 91 

To prosper in business it is well understood that we 
must put ourselves in touch with the world. This 
creates magnetic threads which lead out and form 
tributaries to the source. .A strong and kindly person¬ 
ality at the head of a business is potent for success. It 
attracts the good because it gives out the good. 

In selecting a location get in the business currents. 
There is no luck outside of them. If you are just 
around the corner, quite outside the artery through 
which the stream of wanting humanity pours, it will 
pass you by unnoticed. Though you keep the best 
articles in the market, and sell them lower than any¬ 
body else, you will have no customers if you are not in 
the current. Nobody will hunt you up, even if they 
have heard of you. Keep yourself before them by being 
where they can’t help but see you. 

Executive ability is the money-making quality. 

Faithful performance of duty will bring its compen¬ 
sation. 

The world will always pay for what it absolutely 
wants. 


92 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


XL 

IMPORTANT POINTS. 

BUSINESS LETTERS. 

Not every one with even years of experience under¬ 
stands the tactful art of writing successful business 
letters. No feature of commercial work requires greater 
skill and nicer judgment. In no department of human 
affairs is the potency of words for good or ill more forci¬ 
bly demonstrated. A single one that carries with it so 
much as a hint of ill-temper, suspicion, indifference or 
any other offensive quality, will have power to blast 
some budding business plant that, carefully nurtured, 
might have borne a fruitage of thousands of dollars. 

Nowhere does politeness pay better than in business 
letters. Words are the photographs of thoughts and 
ideas. Their potency is in what they represent, which 
is the mind and thought that sent them forth. Use 
them, then, in the business world, as elsewhere, with 
the most painstaking care, the most delicate tact. 

The reader of a letter feels the sentiment of the 
writer toward him, even to the mood he was in when 
the letter was penned ; and if but one word of doubtful 
shade has slipped in, a suspicion that he is distrusted or 
held in contempt becomes a certainty, and harmonious 
relations are disturbed, if not ended. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


93 


Politeness and kindness should govern the written 
correspondence of the business world, as well as its per¬ 
sonal contact. Indeed, politeness is but the expression 
of kindness. In writing a business letter you are not 
removed from the obligation enlightened human beings 
are always under, to treat each other in all relations in 
life with respectful consideration. You are not simply 
a machine rattling off an order, or asking information of 
another machine. You are a soul speaking to another 
soul. Although the subject spoken of may be of the 
most matter-of-fact kind, your contact involving no 
social element whatever, nevertheless it is a communion 
of soul with soul, and should not be shorn of the spirit 
of sympathy. 

A mistake fraught with disagreeable consequences to 
all who make it, as well as to the victims of those who 
make it, is that of assuming that the business world is a 
place where all the sympathy and refinement that make 
social intercourse tolerable or agreeable can be dispensed 
with. The same men and women are there who are 
elsewhere, with the same feelings, the same capacity for 
being hurt or pleased. We are not heartless machines 
in business, and human beings out of it. We are 
the same wherever we are,—beings with hearts to be 
touched or hurt by the words and manners of our 
fellow-beings. 

Men are sometimes guilty of rudeness, even brutality, 
when attending to practical matters, and excuse them¬ 
selves by saying, “ That’s business.” I beg their pardon; 
it is not business, and it is not excusable on that or any 
other plea. 

Heads of business houses should see to it, that the 
correspondence clerk is something more than a person 


94 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


who can write a good “ hand,” and string words together 
so that their meaning can be understood. 

Promptness as well as politeness should characterize 
the business letter. Successful managers order every 
letter answered promptly and politely, whether its con¬ 
tents are important to the house or not. This, in itself, 
is one of the best advertisements a firm can put out. 

Some correspondence clerks make the mistake of be¬ 
ing brusque in their letters, when they simply mean to 
be brief and to the point. The laconic cannot always 
be distinguished from the curt by the reader, who, nat¬ 
urally enough, resents anything that looks like sawing 
him off too briefly. 

The writer of successful business letters must have 
skill enough to convey to his reader the impression that, 
aside from all commercial considerations, he respects him 
and is interested in him as a human being. That kind 
of a letter never stirs up trouble. It has power to put 
the reader’s soul at peace with itself. 

LEGIBLE HANDWRITING. 

A very important qualification for business of almost 
any kind is the habit of writing plainly. This saves no 
end of time and trouble and prevents serious as well as 
trifling mistakes. Many young women in shops dash 
off the names and addresses of buyers, with a reckless 
haste that causes annoyance and delay all along the line. 
The time they save by hurry is wasted a dozen times 
over by the other employees through whose hands the 
packages must pass, in trying to read the bad writing. 

This is a form of slovenliness in business insupport¬ 
able. No employer should tolerate it, and no conscien- 


WOMEN IN THE B USINESS WORLD. 


95 


tious person should be guilty of it. Clear, legible hand¬ 
writing is due every one with whom we deal. 

Nobody has a right to be so indifferent to another’s 
comfort as to write in a hand that can be read only with 
difficulty. This is as bad manners as to talk in Greek 
when your hearer understood English only. In social 
matters it is offensive, but in business it is unpardonable, 
because it may lead to serious errors. 

A rich merchant in a second-class city says he owes 
much of his prosperity to the great care he exercised 
and insisted upon from all his employees in spelling 
every name properly and writing it clearly. He found 
out early that most people were very sensitive about 
having their names misspelled, and resented it as either 
inexcusable carelessness or a deliberate desire to be dis¬ 
agreeable. “ It sounds like a little thing to get mad 
about,” said the merchant, “ but there are people who 
will quit dealing at a house which misspells their name 
two or three times, and I guess they are right about it. 
It argues carelessness on the part of the merchant in 
not better remembering his costomers.” 

Now that the science of reading character by the 
handwriting has come in, carelessness will surely go 
out. The great men who wrote badly were not great 
because they wrote poorly, but in spite of it. In these 
days of haste no one will stop to struggle through a 
badly-written page—if you wish to advance yourself in 
business write legibly. It pays. 

PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

Whatever may be your rank in the business world, 
try to go higher. The first step toward accomplishing 


96 


WOMEN IN TI1E BUSINESS WORLD. 


this is to keep to the determination that you will do it. 
Thought is the ground-work of every achievement. 
The pushing of any kind of business always begins in 
the mind. Look ahead, and in imagination see yourself 
rising higher and higher. This thought followed out 
will place you in better positions all the time. If you 
have no aspiration to go up the ladder you surely never 
will rise. If you are contented to stay wherever you 
are, on that plane you will remain. No; not to a cer¬ 
tainty, for contentment leans backward a little. As 
long as you are entirely satisfied you are more likely to 
retrograde than advance. Contentment invariably has 
carelessness at its heels, and that soon pulls one back to 
lower levels. 

Whatever state of mind you habitually keep will 
shadow itself forth in your life. If you think of your¬ 
self always as poor or in an inferior position, naturally 
you will remain poor, because you don’t push out of it. 
To push is to aspire. If you carry yourself when 
among people as of little value in your own eyes, others 
will grasp the thought from your bearing and value you 
accordingly. It is next to impossible to think well of a 
person who does not think well of herself. Self-esteem 
of a blatant, overbearing kind is always offensive and 
brings only a superficial success; but the self-esteem 
which is quiet, dignified and firm on its feet is always 
accompanied by a proper respect for others. The two 
together always win. Don’t forget the difference. 
Respect for others is an element of true self-respect. 

It is impossible to push your business and keep to 
yourself. Nobody makes money who stays in a corner 
or operates wholly by proxy. You must show yourself 
to others—come in touch with them. Your personality 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD . 


97 


counts for a great deal. It is that which attracts after 
all; it either draws people to you or repels them. 

A philosopher says that poverty comes of shrinking 
away from people and fear of assuming responsibilities. 

Great tact is needed to push yourself without being 
offensive. The way to begin is to see yourself in im¬ 
agination asserting yourself courageously, honestly and 
respectfully before others. Fasten this word respect¬ 
fully well in your mind. It has much to do with 
your career. You cannot have success without the 
respect of others; and you cannot have the respect of 
others if you do not give them respect and give yourself 
respect, too. We get what we give, everywhere. 

There is no better recipe for making friends and get¬ 
ting on comfortably than to treat every one whom you 
meet with marked respect. It will pay richly. Do not 
be so unwise as to toady to those who are influential 
and ignore or treat with indifference those of lesser im¬ 
portance. She who is treading a lowly path to-day 
may walk on the heights to-morrow. Aside from the 
policy of it, you cannot respect yourself if you mistreat 
any one. Without doubt the best way to keep and 
increase self-respect is to never be lacking in respect 
for others. There is something wonderfully uplifting 
in habitually and invariably treating others with con¬ 
sideration. 

Eminent men and women who won the love of the 
people have done this. A great statesman who held 
the whole west in the hollow of his hand politically 
made it a rule to answer every letter he received 
politely and promptly, no matter whether it was of im¬ 
portance to him or not; and no one was ever sent away 
from his office without a hearing. This considerate- 
7 


98 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


ness and respect for all made his strength the strength 
of ten, because, like King Arthur, “ his heart was 
pure.” Whatw purity but recognizing the rights of 
every living soul? It is written that the pure in heart 
shall see God; and so they do. They see Him in 
every one of His children. 

There is always a demand for better things—better 
books as well as better bread, fabrics and houses, better 
everything. If you think yours a better article, tell the 
public so, and keep on telling all the time. Persistent 
pushing, not spasmodic, pays. 

Spend your money and your time and talents liberally 
in pushing. The more you spend judiciously the more 
you will make. 

If you are not fond of your business, you cannot push 
it. You must put heart into it, find pleasure in improv¬ 
ing and developing it. If you are indifferent to it, no 
new ideas and plans will come to you. 

Let your mind be ever fashioning the larger house, 
the wider operations, the bigger business, and you will 
work into them. The mind leads. It always constructs 
the new conditions in thought long before they take 
shape in the material world. 

If you don’t plan to improve and advance your busi¬ 
ness, it will die. Nothing but statues stand still. 
While you are thinking that your business is on a plane 
where it will run itself without much effort on your 
part, other proprietors are forging ahead, and the people 
are forging ahead, too. You must study the growth and 
changes of the public taste and be ready to meet its de¬ 
mand. That is genius in business. 

These hints are as useful to the employee as to tne 
proprietor. Each can adapt them to her commercial 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 99 

progress. It is well to remember, however, that mere 
money-making is only partial success. In developing 
your business or business faculties you are developing 
yourself. In marketing the freshest and best of any¬ 
thing, whether it be a poem or a sandwich, you are help¬ 
ing the public, as well as yourself. Achieve as wide a 
field as possible. Achievement is success. 

don’t make your own clothes. 

No woman in business should make her own clothes, 
unless her business is dressmaking. There is no econ¬ 
omy in it. Often it means downright loss. It is a 
diffusion of force, a division of energy unfavorable to 
success. If you work all day in some office or shop, and 
sit up at night to plan and construct garments, you chop 
your mind into pieces, and therefore weaken your power 
in the direction of more important work. 

What man would get on in business who spent his 
evenings sewing? You owe patronage to some other 
woman who does dressmaking to earn her living. By 
patronizing her, she gives her custom to you, or, if not, 
it comes back to you some other way, because you put 
out your money and it becomes seed. There is no econ¬ 
omy in trying to keep everything within yourself. We 
owe something to others. To be sure, a change of work 
is rest, but it must be a change which calls different 
muscles and faculties of the mind into play. A little 
housework, or hoeing in the garden night and morning, 
may prove restful to a woman who has been in an office 
all day, provided she does it as rest, or when she feels 
disposed to, and not when it is distasteful to her, and 
because she is obliged to. It would be better to hire 
her housekeeping done, too ; then she can work or not 


100 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


work, as she chooses. Perhaps she can establish a reci¬ 
procity of labor, with a friend, and thereby avoid having 
uncongenial and inferior persons in her house. The 
friend could care for the house, while she did the busi¬ 
ness that earned the money. Thus they could enjoy a 
federation of labor, and the pleasure of each other’s com¬ 
panionship at the same time. 

What I wish to make plain is, that the business woman 
cannot afford to scatter her energies and brains in four 
or five different directions. Subtle laws govern this 
which cannot be violated without ill effects. Concen¬ 
tration of force in the direction of your business keeps 
everything moving that way. Diffusion is disintegra¬ 
tion. Every thought, silent or spoken, has a literal 
value. 

THE BUSINESS WOMAN’S DBESS. 

“ What can’t be cured must be endured,” is a proverb 
the woman of business must bear in mind. She can’t 
afford to reform womankind and manage a business at 
the same time. Without doubt, the world is far astray 
on the dress question, but she can’t set it right, even by 
sensible example. Therefore she would betteY let it 
“gang its gait,” and “ dree its weird” on that ponder¬ 
ous point. 

She will have to make concessions to the popular idea 
of what women should wear, however absurd that idea 
is. For her sacrifice of good sense and taste, she can 
console herself with the thought that all concessions are 
made to ignorance, never to wisdom. Wisdom wants 
no concessions. 

It will be wiser to conform to what “ they” are wear¬ 
ing, in a measure. This can be done without following 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


101 


the fashion to its regulation limit or the point of dis¬ 
comfort. The decisions of “ they ” are not so inflexible 
as formerly. A woman can bend them a little, here and 
there, and still be considered respectable, if not stylish. 

None who does not want to need be harnessed up in a 
corset. The large classic waist is having its day for all 
not hopelessly governed by Parisian styles. Sliort- 
waisted gowns, half-fitting jackets, and loose blouses are 
in vogue, and are so graceful and comfortable that they 
will never be permitted to go out. Shoes have been in¬ 
cluded in the evolution of dress, until it is possible to 
find them bearing some resemblance to the shape of the 
human foot, and possible to wear them without experi¬ 
encing torture. Headwear, too, has broadened its range, 
until a woman can wear almost anything on her head and 
not be mobbed. She is still in bondage to skirts, how¬ 
ever. The length of them is the point of dispute be¬ 
tween her and the public. But even this she can con¬ 
trol if she makes up her mind to. She can cut them to 
escape the filth of the street and still avoid arrest and 
imprisonment. 

With all this freedom accorded her, she can endure 
the rest of the tyrannies with some degree of patience. 

It is possible for the business woman to invent a style 
of dress which, to a reasonable degree, combines comfort, 
beauty and fashion, since she cannot, like the Gurus of 
India, liberate herself entirely from clothes and other 
troubles. 

The main thing is to dress suitably. Garments un¬ 
suitable to the time and place and occupation are always 
ridiculous, no matter how costly they are. 

Gowns simple and seasonable, but well made, are best 
for business uses which involve street wear, and they 


102 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


must be as fresh as possible. It is poor economy, as well 
as poor taste, to wear shabby clothes in business. Have 
the fewest possible dresses at a time. Wear them while 
they are new and fresh, and when they grow rusty give 
them to some less fortunate woman, who can either 
spend time freshening them up for herself or making, 
them over for her children. 

To wear clothes that you know are shabby is to rob 
yourself of your proper value in the eyes of others, and 
lower you in your own. You can’t help but feel a little 
less important in them, and that means a waste of an 
essential quality. Dress well in business. The money 
thus expended is part of your capital, and is invested 
judiciously. Buy few clothes, but let them be up with 
the times. Put them on and wear them till rusty, and 
then get new ones. That is true economy. Wearing 
old things simply because you have them is very un¬ 
profitable. 

So is it unprofitable to make over your old dresses, or 
have them made over. Give them away and buy new 
ones. There is good luck as well as good management 
in doing that way. Keep your closets weeded out of 
whatever you are not using. Don’t leave an old dress 
hanging around, thinking you will wear it some rainy 
day. If you do, you will wish you had not. Simplify 
your wardrobe. It will simplify your cares, and you 
can be better dressed with few clothes of modern cut 
than with many of mixed condition. 

Bonnets, gloves and shoes should be good and fresh. 
They are the important adjuncts of a toilet. Your ap¬ 
pearance is an advertisement of your business or ability. 

Take care, then, that it be attractive and indicative of 
prosperity. If you find yourself becoming poor, make 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


103 


an extra effort to dress well. Never allow yourself to look 
poor. It is fatal to success. Any dress not suitable to 
the work the wearer is engaged in is improper. No stand¬ 
ard business dress can be devised, because the require¬ 
ments of different businesses are different. It is not 
difficult to invent a style of clothing the body comfort¬ 
ably and in sight of whatever the prevailing mode may be, 
when woman’s business makes it necessary for her to 
appear on the streets of towns and cities. But when her 
business is entirely within the home, she needs to be 
differently garbed. The woman farmer would cut an 
absurd figure arrayed in a tailor-made gown, and the 
woman carpenter would be out of place in a train. 

Each worker should have sufficient independence and 
ingenuity to devise a costume appropriate to her needs. 
The first requirement of clothing should be perfect free¬ 
dom of the body. Since the most primitive days of 
mankind this first great law of dress has been violated 
by women. If they have been dependents and ciphers 
the fact is no doubt largely owing to their continued 
obedience to tyrannies of attire. Is it strange that a 
creature who had not independence of spirit enough to 
clothe her body without torturing it and hampering her 
movements, should be unable to extricate herself from 
the depths of poverty? With wider industrial activity, 
which she can have if she chooses to take it, woman’s 
mind will be more or less liberated, and the day at last 
arrive when she will cover her body as comfort and 
beauty, not as fashion and folly, dictate. 

The woman farmer can put on her tailor-made gown, 
if she chooses, when she drives into the town ; but, when 
working on her farm, or overseeing the work of others, 
she ought to be clothed in a manner that will give her 


104 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


as much freedom as a man has. The woman carpenter 
may wear her train, if it will make her happy, when she 
entertains her friends at a reception in her own home; 
but, when climbing scaffolding, she should wear clothes 
suitable to the needs of the time and place. As one of 
the eminent expresses it: “ A woman certainly ought 
to dress becomingly, and on certain occasions make her¬ 
self as pretty as possible. She ought to dress within 
her means, or the means of those who provide for her. 
She ought to dress in good taste, and she ought to wear 
clothing suitable for the work in which she is engaged. 
And that is about all there is to be said on the subject.” 



WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


105 


XII. 

HELPERS AND HINDERERS. 

WEALTHY WORKERS. 

Every now and then a wail is heard to the effect that 
wealthy women undersell the needy workers in art- 
needlework, china-painting and other trifles. Some of 
the malcontents go so far as to say that well-to-do women 
should not enter the money-winning race at all. 

This is bad reasoning. The rich woman has as much 
right to the expression of her talents and energies as the 
poor. Indeed, the more she works the more she helps, 
instead of hinders, other workers. She helps to make 
work respected for its own sake, and to break down the 
absurd lines which custom has drawn between the pro¬ 
ducer and the respectable non-producer, but she must 
not work too cheaply. 

Rich men work usually as long as they live, and no 
one thinks of growling because they do. The reason is, 
that man’s business world is constructed on the princi¬ 
ple that work is honorable for all, and he who brings the 
best thing to market will get the best price for it. Com¬ 
petition is free to all. The marts are managed on k 
business basis. 

Women, too often, still cling to the belief that the 
public must buy their products because they are needy. 


106 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 

This is fatal to all excellence and to the self-respect of 
the worker, and must be abandoned utterly if women ever 
expect to be anything besides mere mendicants in the 
business world, appealing to the philanthropic instincts 
of the public, sighing and apologizing because they have 
to work at all. 

To forbid all women who are not in need the indus¬ 
trial field, would be to degrade all women-workers by ad¬ 
vertising to the world that they are doing what they are 
engaged in because they are driven by the lash of neces¬ 
sity, and not because they take pleasure in it, or find 
expression in it. It would divide the rich from the 
working fraternity effectually and hopelessly, and estab¬ 
lish caste-prejudices inimical, to republican ideas. Medi¬ 
ocrity of performance would be the result. Worse than 
all, it would be an interference with personal liberty not 
to be thought of. Happily no one nor no class has the 
power to enforce such an edict, nor does enlightened 
public sentiment countenance the suggestion. 

The tendency year by year is toward a womanhood of 
universal industry, rather than to deflection from busi¬ 
ness activity. The time is coming, too, when it will be 
a far greater shame for a healthy woman to be idle than 
it ever was for her to work. Through a universal activ¬ 
ity all will be brought nearer together, and the wonder¬ 
ful and beautiful truth that we are one family, of one 
parentage, undivided and immortal, be made plain. 

NEVER TOO LATE TO BEGIN. 

Many a woman sighs as she contemplates some friend 
“ careering ” proudly and successfully, and wishes she, 
too, had learned some specialty, some profession or occu- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


107 


pation when she was young. Well, it is best to learn 
early, if you can; but, also, it is never too late to 
learn, even as it is never too late to mend. Jane 
Carlyle said nothing made her feel so young as did 
studying something—a language or science, or anything 
which taxed her faculties. 

Any woman who wants to may develop whatever tal¬ 
ent she possesses at any age this side of imbecility. She 
may even discover some talent in herself not dreamed 
of during half a lifetime. A woman who is now a high 
authority on birds did not know one bird from another 
until she was past middle-age. She entertained a guest 
for a few weeks, an enthusiastic ornithologist, and in 
trying to be a sympathetic companion to her visitor, 
while walking about the parks and suburbs of a great 
city, listening interestedly to stories of the feathered 
tribe, her own interest in the study was aroused, and she 
went on until now her life is devoted to studying and 
writing of birds and their habits. 

Another woman, inspired by the desire to help her 
husband to a course of study greatly desired and needed 
by him, discovered in herself a talent for interesting 
people in lectures on birds and their characteristics, 
illustrated by whistling their enticing notes and with 
stereopticon pictures reproduced from her own kodak 
snaps. Beginning in a small way, now the demand is 
greater than she can supply, and remunerative engage¬ 
ments to lecture before scientific and literary circles 
have made it possible to give her husband the scientific 
course at Harvard and lay a foundation for a home in 
the suburbs. 

The woman who has a business in which she is inter¬ 
ested and doing well, never grows old. It gives her fac- 


108 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


ulties exercise, and that is a great preserver of youth. 
She never suffers from the tedium of idleness, and never 
feels that the world is rushing on and leaving her be¬ 
hind, as does the woman who has no specialty in life, 
sometimes. 

Learn to do some particular thing, if you can, no mat¬ 
ter how old you are, and do it, and you will grow young 
again. An occupation is a hold on life and life’s inter¬ 
ests. 

CRIMINAL HELPLESSNESS. 

The greatest injury parents can do their children is to 
bring them up to be helpless. This is to make indus¬ 
trial dwarfs of them; to put them at the mercy of fate; 
to make them contemptible in the eyes of the better 
educated and developed. Education does not consist 
solely of mental accomplishments, memory cramming 
and kindred mistakes; it is efficiency in as many direc¬ 
tions as possible. It involves the practical as well as 
the ornamental; the ability to do as well as to say fine 
things. 

How women ever fell into the gross and pernicious 
error of despising the useful, practical arts which con¬ 
tribute to the comfort and pleasure of their family and 
society, is past the comprehension of enlightened minds. 
Somewhere that flaw entered their brains, and the result 
has been fatal to the individual and the multitude. 

Ibsen’s theory of the complete unfolding of the indi¬ 
vidual means salvation for the industrial as well as the 
social world. Each is entitled to whatever development 
he or she is capable of. A mere cramming of the head 
is but a lop-sided expansion. 

Young women too often want to dabble in art, toy 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


109 


with literature, or fool with fads of various and mind- 
weakening characters; in short, do anything but some¬ 
thing necessary and useful. Sometimes their mothers 
are very busy solving sociological problems, organizing 
instructive clubs, telling other women what they ought 
to do, and tidying up the world morally and mentally, 
while their girls are growing up in idleness, becoming 
wholly useless and dependent members of society. 

The gospel of the practical is what the world most 
needs. Every mother should preach it zealously and 
see that her children of both sexes live it conscien¬ 
tiously. Helplessness fills up the land of pauperdom 
and the kingdom of crime, and is largely responsible 
for the 44 superfluous women ” problem which excites 
so much concern. Young men cannot marry and 
assume all the burden of work, keeping their wives in 
idleness and luxury. Yet this is what they must do if 
they unite themselves with helpless women. The old 
synonym for wife, 44 help-meet,” is no longer generally 
appropriate. With all the facilities for practical ed¬ 
ucation of the present day, the inability of thousands 
of young women to help themselves and others, is one 
of the deplorable features of the age. This is not so 
much owing to indolence as to the foolish belief obtaining 
among them, that work of any kind other than 44 artistic ” 
is degrading. They forget that the classic dames they 
are so fond of portraying on plaques and panels were 
industrious toilers in the very fields of labor they 
despise. 

44 In time of peace prepare for war,” is a rule of con¬ 
duct adopted by the most stable governments. Men 
individually act upon it, when, however opulent they 
may be, they arm themselves with the knowledge neces- 


110 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD . 


sary for the conflict of life—prepare themselves to be 
factors in the industries of their country. Women 
alone neglect to conform to its suggestion. All too 
frequently they make no preparation for self-depend¬ 
ence until the day of need is upon them. Then there 


is no time to prepare ; or they are too far along in years 


to learn what they are best adapted to. Frantic to 
know what they shall do, they become objects of pity, 
dependent on others. This trouble comes from the 
ruinous error they have been brought up in, that the 
question of their support was one for others to solve. 

Sometimes a woman says: “ I don’t teach my 

daughter how to do housework or to sew; because, if 
she does not know how she will never have to do these 
things.” Perhaps not; but somebody else will have to 
do them for her. In case riches take unto themselves 
wings, her dressmakers will go unpaid, or she will be 
badly dressed, or dependent on others, who must do 
for her that which she despises to do for herself. Her 
ignorance of housework, whether she be rich or poor, 
will make her home uncomfortable and ill-disciplined, 
and her children untrained. Ignorance is never com¬ 
mendable. Helplessness is criminal and closely related 
to selfishness, and selfishness preys upon friends. 



UNOCCUPIED WOMEN. 


A class greatly to be commiserated is made up of 
unoccupied women. They are found most numerously 
in the hotels and boarding-houses of great cities, where 
they have nothing to do but drag through a cheerless 
existence. They have but few social interests and no 
industrial ones. They are wives whose husbands do 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


Ill 


not earn enough to enable them to keep house; or they 
are women whose children are grown, and perhaps gone, 
or they are unmarried and elderly, or widows. They 
have means enough to live on, usually; but are ill of 
one of the worst of maladies—nothing to do. 

In early life they were taught nothing that could be 
made a pursuit or calling. Now, having no homes in 
which to be useful, they pass their time in an idleness 
bad for them and for those about them. They live 
dissatisfied, and often die because they have nothing to 
hold on to. 

An occupation is a cord holding one to life. It keeps 
one pulsating in harmony with the heart of the uni¬ 
verse. Uselessness is neither a condition of happiness 
nor safety. In all nature it is the prelude to destruc¬ 
tion. 

The unoccupied woman would be happier to learn 
something to do, and do it, and teach others to do it. 
She might take up the study of languages, or some art 
or industry. If she cares not to earn money for herself, 
let her earn it for benevolent or philanthropic pur¬ 
poses. In any case let her do something, and be in 
earnest about it. Her happiness will increase with her 
usefulness. 


112 


WOMEN IN THE B XJSINESS WORLD. 


XIII. 

THE SEED OF WEALTH. 

That our material prosperity is hindered or enhanced 
by the bad or good will we express towards others, is a 
great truth, not yet understood by everybody. It is 
written that as we sow we shall reap; but the sowing 
has a wider significance than many are aware of. Seed 
put forth in the shape of avarice, envy, hate, cruelty 
and dishonesty, often comes back in the form of poverty. 
Good-will returns in health and prosperity. 

Under all the dealings of man with man lie the be¬ 
neficent purposes of the Creator. These, so far as they 
have been revealed, urge upon us the duty of helping 
each other. No man is to live unto himself.. Each is 
his brother’s keeper, in the sense that he is in a measure 
responsible for his brother’s welfare. Good-will to our 
neighbor, who is also our brother, will naturally express 
itself in good deeds. These invariably prove the best 
investment one can possibly make. They are sure to 
come back doubled and trebled, in ways and forms never 
dreamed of when the seed was sown. 

“ Cast thy bread upon the waters and it shall return 
to you after many days.” This is true; it is one of the 
laws by which God works. The bread will not always 
come back by the stream on which you sent it forth ; 
but it will come and come generously. “ Live and let 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 113 

live ” is a good motto ; but, “ live and help live ” is better. 
Never forget that he or she who helps others to live, 
will be helped. God himself has promised that, and He 
fulfills His promise every hour. 

A truth expounded in the Bible and daily demon¬ 
strated is, that the way to get is to give, and the way 
to lose is to keep what you have. In the Scriptures, 
sowing is distinctly compared to giving. It is written, 
“He that sowetli sparingly shall also reap sparingly, 
and he that sowetli bountifully shall reap bountifully,” 
and this the apostle uses in direct reference to money. 
Remember, the explicit directions of the Bible are that 
the way to get is to give. A greater than Solomon 
said, “ Give and it shall be given unto you, good meas¬ 
ure, pressed down, shaken together and running over 
shall men give into your bosom.” 

“ It is more blessed to give than to receive.” That 
being true, to which all can testify who have had both 
experiences, the question for us to ask is, not how other 
people are treating us, but how we are treating other 
people ; not what we are getting from our fellow-men, 
but what we are meting out to them. 

To him who receives, nothing is promised; but on 
him who gives, great blessings are to be poured. 

“ What is grace but giving?” says Bishop Vincent. 
“ God’s grace in us—the giving of ourselves, the giving 
of our powers, the giving of our all to humanity.” 

So clearly has the law of giving in order to get been 
demonstrated, that systematic giving is the rule of 
many prosperous business houses. It is believed by not 
a few, that the practice of tithing always operative 
among the Jews, is the spiritual secret of their universal 
success in business. The word tithe, when used in the 
8 


114 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD . 


Bible, always means tenth, and is never used in any other 
sense. Over and over again, by different writers, it is 
most distinctly asserted that “ the tenth is holy unto 
the Lord.” The prophet Malachi, the last under the 
old dispensation, and in some sense the one who ushered 
in the new, used this significant language concerning 
tithing (Mai. iii. 10,11,12): “ Bring ye all the tithes into 
the store-house, that there may be meat in mine 
house, and prove me now herewith, saitli the Lord 
of hosts, if I will not open for you the windows of 
Heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall 
not be room enough to receive it.” 

We have the Scriptural promise that if we are faith¬ 
ful, and pay God ten per cent, regularly, or as the Bible 
puts it, “ bring all the tithes into the store-house,” He 
will give us both material and spiritual blessings. 

We pay God one-tenth by giving that much to benevo¬ 
lence and religion. Remember, it is only paying our 
proper dues for His help in our business. Outside of 
that, we still have nine-tenths left from which to make 
gifts, if we wish. 

In a dream, Jacob formed a partnership with God, 
promising Him one-tenth for His help. Ten times did 
Laban change the manner of divisions of the flocks, be¬ 
cause Jacob’s share always increased the most, after that 
dream. 

Very particular were the scribes and Pharisees, as well 
as were the Jews, about tithing their earnings. They 
carried it out even in the most trifling matters, tithing 
the very herbs. Without doubt, they were faithful to 
the practice of tithing because they knew there was 
money in it. 

A book has been written to show the benefits of tith- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


115 


ing, by one of its advocates. It is entitled the “ Path 
to Wealth,” and contains the experiences of a number of 
persons, men and women, and of different classes, who 
made the experiment for several months before testify¬ 
ing to its efficacy. 

Its author says :— 

“ I affirm that there are more promises of a material 
character in the Bible, promising those who keep the 
commandments material blessings, than there are prom¬ 
ises of a spiritual character. I do not state that material 
prosperity in itself is to be compared in importance to 
spiritual prosperity, for one is dross and the other is 
gold; one is the bubble on the ocean, and the other is 
the ocean ; one relates to time and the other to eternity, 
and there is no comparison. But for some reason the 
Bible gives greater prominence to the earthly advan¬ 
tages of obedience to God than does much modern 
religious teaching. The reason is probably found in 
the fact that our material condition very greatly affects 
our spiritual advancement, and that of the world. 

“ I affirm that God promises to give us health and 
wealth if we will pay Him our tithes. He promises to 
fill our barns, to give us houses and lands, to make our 
business successful, to protect our families. In every 
way blessings of a temporal character are promised to 
those who will keep this commandment of paying ten 
per cent, to His cause. 

“ I believe a case is yet to be found of a man paying 
his tenth to God who did not pay every other man one 
hundred per cent., and who has not been prospered as a 
result of his tithing. 

“ I state, having the Bible to back me, and all the ex¬ 
perience available to confirm the Bible, that a man who 
tithes his income, be he rich or poor, takes God into 
partnership, and God becomes responsible for that man’s 
financial success, and pledges His word that he shall 
be prospered with earthly or temporal advancement. 
‘ Honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first 


116 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


fruits of all thine increase, so shall thy barns be filled 
with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new 
wine.’ These are rich and precious promises, and they 
will be fulfilled only when we comply with the condi¬ 
tions and pay our tenth to God. These promises are 
literal and material; they are for here and now; they 
are to be enjoyed on earth; they challenge us to a con¬ 
tract or bargain with God. As stated before, He prom¬ 
ises money for money. 4 You pay Me a tenth,’ He 
says, 4 and I will give you earthly and material bless¬ 
ings.’ These earthly blessings are also invariably ac¬ 
companied by great spiritual comfort and enlighten¬ 
ment. 

44 1 do not think the Bible means that every man who 
tithes shall become rich ; but it does mean that every 
man who does so shall be well cared for ; and experi¬ 
ence proves that most of them are in comfortable cir¬ 
cumstances, and not a few of them are rich. It relieves 
a man of all anxiety as to his earthly sustenance, for the 
word of God is sure, and He will honor those who 
honor Him. He who cares for God’s cause and appro¬ 
priates to His service one-tenth of his income, shall 
never lack a tenth to give. 

44 It is always safe to do what God bids us, without 
asking questions, but more particularly is this the case 
when experience bears such unequivocal testimony to 
the profit of keeping this command, ‘Verily Godliness 
is profitable unto all things having promise of the life 
that now is.’ The Bible distinctly says, 4 There is that 
which scattereth and yet increaseth ; and there is that 
which withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to 
poverty.’ ” 

It is easy to see that tithing systematizes one’s benevo¬ 
lence, and that has its good results, material and spirit¬ 
ual. It helps to keep the mind orderly, and so saves 
time and trouble. It keeps the soul alive to the needs 
of others, in closer contact with the spirit of benevolence 
and therefore uplifts and ennobles it—not fitfully but 


WOMEN IN THE B U SIN ESS WORLD. 


117 


continually. It gives one the feeling of obedience to 
God, which brings one nearer all good than anything 
else. Tithing also gives one confidence in the success 
of a business. It imparts to one who practices it a feel¬ 
ing of strength, because God becomes one’s partner. 
It helps us to depend on our spiritual Father, who has 
never yet disappointed those who confided in Him. 

Those who have testified to the good results of pay¬ 
ing one-tenth of their net income to God say that, 
though they began to do so from a sense of duty, they 
continue the practice from a sense of pleasure and pro¬ 
fit, and that it has stimulated their love of the good and 
awakened them to a knowledge of their one ness with 
God and responsibility to their fellow-beings as nothing 
else has done. Those who persevere in it say it has 
taught them to realize in an unspeakable sense that “ it 
is more blessed to give than to receive.” 

A philosopher of to-day says : “It is not what we 
give to God, but what we keep from Him that makes 
us p'oor.” 

The tithe is the seed-money of wealth. Is it strange 
that Infinite Intelligence has so arranged it that giving 
is the true way to get ? By giving We are saved from 
selfishness, the most destructive of all sins, and our 
hearts kept tender toward the poor, who become our 
providence, as well as we theirs. 

Watts, the famous painter, painted a picture of a re¬ 
cumbent figure shrouded in grave-clothes. At its feet 
is a heterogeneous dSbris emblematic of the ruin of all 
that man usually strives for in the world; but at its 
head is a wreath of evergreen laurel representing that 
which endures. The motto of this picture is, “ What I 
spent I had; what I saved I lost; what I gave I have.” 


118 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD . 


XIV. 

ECONOMIC BLUNDERS AND BENEFITS. 

OVERCROWDED PROFESSIONS. 

There are still several occupations in which women 
almost invariably receive less pay than men, no 
matter how excellent their performance. Teaching 
in the public schools, stenography, telegraphy, book¬ 
keeping, clerking as saleswomen, and various kinds of 
office-work. Florida and Indiana are the only states in 
the Union that pay their women teachers as much as 
their men. In some of the other states women receive 
only half the salaries paid men for the same service, 
while again in still others they receive three-fourths as 
much. 

This unjust custom probably had its origin in the 
fact that when women began to teach they were less fitted 
than were men for the work, because of their more lim¬ 
ited opportunities for obtaining an education. Also 
from their attitude, as well as the density of the preju¬ 
diced public mind, it was scarcely conceivable that they 
were in the work “ to stay.” It was supposed they were 
playing at the business until they could marry. Their 
efforts were not taken seriously, and, indeed, they them¬ 
selves were imbued with the idea of the transitoriness of 
their professional career. Then, too, popular opinion 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


119 


always insisted that women were supported to some ex¬ 
tent at least by their male relatives, no matter how many 
evidences there were to the contrary. That was the cus¬ 
tom, and any exceptions were ignored, especially by 
school boards, who, by making their remuneration dis¬ 
gustingly low, did what they could to discourage any 
attempt at self-support on the part of women. 

It is easy to understand how this scale of payment 
came about; but the question is, What is the remedy ? 
Well, there is a remedy, and it is simple enough. It is 
this : Don't enter these overcrowded professions ! Being 
already in, get out as soon as possible. Now that all 
avenues of employment are open to you, there is no 
excuse for rushing into such as have no promise in 
them. 

Don’t be tempted by the prospect of a little ready 
money at the end of every week. A salaried situation, 
even a good one, is by no means the best thing for you, 
as I have repeatedly said elsewhere. If you stay in it too 
long you will lose the power of doing business for your¬ 
self. Look about and find something to do in which you 
can build up—something, if possible, which will be your 
own when it is built. If you buy or rent a piece of 
ground and raise vegetables nobody will, because you 
are a woman, offer you less than the market price for a 
bunch of onions. If you operate a bakery nobody will 
expect you to sell bread cheaper than the male baker on 
the corner. Your vegetables or your bread will have 
their prices fixed by their excellence, not by the fact 
that you are a woman. 

Do not forget that a Massachusetts school committee 
in its printed report, in alluding to a certain appoint¬ 
ment, said: “As this place offers neither honor nor 


120 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


profit, we do not see why it should not be filled by a 
woman.” Make it a point to keep out of places that 
offer “ neither honor nor profit.” 

MISFITS IN PRODUCTION. 

There is a story of a cobbler, who, having only leather 
enough to make one pair of shoes, and no money to buy 
more, made the shoes, but could not sell them because 
they were “ misfits,” the trade name for whatever fails 
to suit the orderer. The poor cobbler was ruined by a 
single misfit. 

Misfits in the way of production are the rocks on 
which many a striving woman’s bark goes down. A 
look inside some of the woman’s exchanges is convincing 
proof that mistaken industries are largely responsible 
for the impecuniosity of some very worthy workers. 
The knowledge that would enable women to know what 
to produce that would be saleable is not well diffused. 
The overwhelming desire of many, to put in their time 
creating unacceptable articles, is little short of madness. 
Misproductions represent lost time united to heartache 
and disappointment. Misfits in any direction 'are dead 
stock. 

How to overcome the ignorance of many willing work¬ 
ers, so that what is useless may not be offered, and what 
is desired and demanded may be readily and profitably 
produced, is a question which can be answered correctly 
by each woman, only, for herself, taking into account 
what she is capable of doing and what the world wants, 
as she understands it. 

One way to avoid ruinous blunders in the matter of 
misfit productions is not to do what many others are 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


121 


doing. Also, produce a necessary article, not simply 
one of the pretty, useless things which people buy only 
when they are in a humor to be prodigal of their money. 
Such things can be sold at times, but there is no real 
demand for them. Their sale must depend on the 
caprice of the moment and the plethora of the purse. 

Women must study the real wants of the world, and 
not waste their time supplying the fitful artificial ones. 
They must inform themselves, as men do, on all matters 
pertaining to the demands of the public, its tastes and 
whims ; what it wants bad enough to pay for, and what 
they can do toward supplying its wants. To do this, a 
woman must keep in touch with life in the aggregate— 
the life of the multitude, the life of the world. Any 
day, while reading her morning newspaper, she may find 
light on the dark question of how to make a living. 
Such light can come only by taking advantage of every 
opportunity to know how other people live. Beware of 
getting into a corner and staying there. One of the 
beneficent arrangements of Divine intelligence is, that 
to sustain ourselves we must come in contact with each 
other, thus making seclusion and success absolutely 
inimical. 

ASKING FOR WORK. 

In asking for employment, don’t act sheepish or 
ashamed. There is no more reason for you to be hum¬ 
bled thereby than there is for the person whom you ask 
to be so. The business world is simply a great ex¬ 
change. You offer to exchange your work for money. 
He exchanges his money for your work. There is no 
reason for either to be abashed. It is a mere question 
of need and supply, which is the foundation of all busi¬ 
ness. 


122 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


Be modest without being shrinking; be confident 
without being offensive. 

Be sure you are competent, and then don’t hesitate to 
say so. 

If what you ask for is to be learned, show that you 
are anxious to learn it. 

Be as brief and to the point as possible. Don’t ex¬ 
plain or refer to your necessities. If you do, you will 
bore your hearer and injure your own cause. An em¬ 
ployer will not hire you because you are in need, but 
because he needs you. 

Take “ no ” for an answer without parley. The busi¬ 
ness man’s “ no ” can’t be turned into “ yes ” by argu¬ 
ment. He knows his business better than you do. 

Make your appeal direct to headquarters—that is, to 
the person in authority, and not a subordinate, who has 
no power to help you. 

Don’t fail to be polite through every discouragement. 
If you should meet with a rebuff or rudeness, don’t lose 
your temper in consequence. It isn’t worth it. The 
lesson in self-mastery will be valuable to you. 

Don’t expect rebuffs, or act as though you expected 
them, and you will be less likely to receive them. 

Don’t make up your mind to failure before you begin. 
That is to invite failure. 

Keep up your courage. Don’t let any number of dis¬ 
appointments depress you. If you meet with a succes¬ 
sion of “ noes,” take it as a sign that you are not to have 
that which you have been seeking, but are destined to 
have something very much better some place else. Re¬ 
member there is something good for every one who 
earnestly seeks it. You are sure to find it if you keep 
in a confident frame of mind and keep your eyes open. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 123 

How many persons have looked back and been grate¬ 
ful that they did not get tlie particular situation they 
had set their hearts on? 

“ There is good for me, and I shall have it,” is a 
motto to remember and act upon. 

FINDING NEW INDUSTRIES. 

New conditions make ne w occupations. Many women 
find employment with the institutions which supply 
newspaper notices of themselves to actors,"authors, poli¬ 
ticians, and other persons of prominence. This, a totally 
unknown industry a few years ago, has now grown into 
a great business, with thousands of subscribers and hun¬ 
dreds of employes, men and women. It is said to have 
been invented by an American who was starving in 
Paris. While racking his brains for a means of earning 
his bread, he saw a well-known artist pay a franc for a 
newspaper which cost two sous. This interested him so 
much that he made efforts to find the explanation. The 
buyer was an artist, and had promised the keeper of the 
news-stand a franc for every paper containing a mention 
of his pictures or himself. She searched the papers for 
him every morning, and, during the picture season, 
reaped quite a little harvest. Acting on this hint, the 
American worked his way to London, bought copies of 
the daily papers, clipped out the notices of artists’ work, 
and peddled them from studio to studio. His business 
increased from day to day, until now this “ Universal 
Compendium of the Press ” is an important feature for 
all public persons, here and abroad, and a fortune for its 
proprietors. Its inception is a hint to women to be watch¬ 
ful for new opportunities, and ready in taking hold of 


124 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


them. The genius which can see a new field in time to 
be the first to occupy it has fortune at its feet. 

The struggles of women for subsistence in industrial 
pursuits have arisen mainly from the fact that instead of. 
seeking for new fields of employment, the tendency has 
been to crowd more the already over-crowded ones which 
are suited to their tastes. As an explorer of new indus¬ 
trial territory woman does not shine. She has been too 
timid and too anxious not to be thought “ queer ” and 
“ mannish.” The foolish fear of doing something 
original or unusual has kept thousands of women in the 
traces of poverty all their lives. 

SHE CAN DO WHAT SHE WILL. 

When Harriet Martineau visited this country in 1840 
she found only seven occupations open to women. Now 
Massachusetts alone boasts of three hundred different 
branches of industry in which women can earn from one 
hundred to three thousand a year. There is really no 
occupation closed to women. They can do any kind of 
work they have the ability to do, and no hue or cry will 
be raised over it, even if they should invade such purely 
masculine fields as putting down pavements or building 
bridges. Now, more than at any other time in the 
world’s history, is woman mistress of her own destiny. 
Her limitations come from within, not from without. 
What she wishes to do she can do, if her will is strong 
enough. Her day of complaint is over, if she so deter¬ 
mines. 

don’t talk about your business. 

A wise woman will not talk about her business to 
any but her close friends, those whose interests and 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD . 


125 


motives are identical with her own. Being sure of their 
co-operation and sympathy, a discussion of business 
plans is wholesome, and engenders new ideas. Mind 
acts upon mind and sparks of light flash out. Sympathy 
is awakened, and sympathy is force. In such a talk all 
discord should be avoided. It not only affects the per¬ 
sons unpleasantly, but affects the business as well. 
Harmony is power of a character so tremendous that, if 
realized by every one, the secrets of the universe would 
soon be revealed. 

To tell one’s plans to everybody is to defeat them. 
It is not too much to say that indiscreet babbling of 
what you intend to do means failure. By this means 
your ideas get into the “ mental air,” and are wafted 
off to other minds wdio act upon them at once, perhaps, 
while the one who sent them forth is merely getting 
ready to put them in operation. When she is entirely 
ready she finds herself forestalled. Somebody is in the 
field ahead of her with her idea, full-fledged and opera¬ 
tive. Then she wonders how the other woman hap¬ 
pened to think of it. 

Aside from considerations as subtle, indiscriminate 
chattering of your methods and plans weakens you in 
the respect of your friends. Instinctively people feel 
that a babbler, one who cannot contain herself, is a per¬ 
son of feeble mental strength. The Jews are said to be 
very careful on this point. They regard it as inviting 
ill-luck to talk of their affairs to any outsider. In mat¬ 
ters of business silence is literally golden. It means 
continence of force. 

What would be thought of the military chief who 
told his plan of attack broadcast, or the lawyer who 
made a sieve of himself for his clients’ secrets to pass 


126 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


through ? Don’t forget that “ a man’s word is his only 
burden.” In business it often becomes particularly 
heavy, if it is a foolish or indiscreet word. It is safer 
and in better taste to tell of what you have done than 
of what you intend to do. Your deeds can then give 
weight to your words, but there is a chance that you 
may fatigue others. 

EAKLY-BIRD WISDOM. 

She had lived long, learned much and thought much, 
and this is what she said of successful people: 

“ It is my belief,” she said, “ that the people who suc¬ 
ceed in life are always early risers. I have thought on 
this subject often, and have made a point of finding out 
the home habits of successful men and women. With 
few exceptions they all get up early, and are busy at 
something while those who complain of poverty are 
still sound asleep. 

“ There are good reasons why this is so,—some patent 
to all observers ; others too fine to be seen on the sur¬ 
face. In the first place the late sleeper is a self-indul¬ 
gent person, largely under the dominion of his bodily 
sensations,—a weakness incompatible with getting on 
well in the world. Loss of time is not his only loss. 
Each concession to his ease-loving instincts robs him 
of some of his ability to be lord of himself,—a loss no 
one can sustain often without very unhappy conse¬ 
quences. 

“Then, though I cannot explain them, I am sure 
there are profound causes underljdng my simple state¬ 
ment that to be successful one should rise early. Per¬ 
haps there is an impetus or vital force in the early 
morning hours which is caught only by those in move¬ 
ment, and missed by the sleepers. It is reasonable to 
suppose so. The sun, the great agent of all life, 
blesses the earth anew every morning when it drives 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


127 


away the darkness. The birds, animals and all vegeta¬ 
tion feel a sense of fresh life each day at his approach; 
but the sleeper is still in his world of darkness and par¬ 
takes but partly in the blessing, which is most pervasive 
in the early hours. This is my explanation of it— 
though it may not be of the least value or interest to 
others. 

“ Early to bed precedes early rising. The freshness 
and strength that come from ante-midnight sleep is ad¬ 
mitted by all. The same reasons for rising early are 
good for going to bed early. The sooner we go to sleep 
the sooner we lay down our burdens, therefore there is 
less weariness to be rested from, and the body is more 
easily refreshed. Absence of the sun inclines all nature 
to repose. The influence of the night is stilling. It 
leads away from unrest to the boundless kingdom of 
unconsciousness where we lay our burdens down. 

“ If I were training the young again, I should be 
more particular than I ever was to inculcate a habit of 
going to bed early and getting up early. It is sure to 
bring incalculable gain in many ways. 

“ A waste of time means a waste of life, for life is 
made up of time. The successful men in every calling 
have had a keen sense of the value of time. They 
have been misers of minutes.” 

In a recent book an Egyptian wise man, in counsel¬ 
ing his pupils, says: 

“ Sunlight is a benediction, and, next to the noontide, 
there is no time in the day when it touches with such 
power as when it first comes above the horizon. At 
sunset the vibrations are powerful, but not as beneficial. 
The old adage was based on a great natural law. Early 
rising brings health and wisdom by a process as simple 
as that of bodily growth. Our inner senses are fed by 
a fine magnetic substance of which we are unconscious, 
and physical and mental conditions are thereby stim¬ 
ulated. If you would prove this some time, ask the 
brightest and healthiest people you know if they do not 
rise earlier than those about them.” 


128 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD . 


XV. 


A STORY AND A SERMON. 

POLITENESS PAYS. 

The soft answer not only turneth away wrath, but 
attracteth the mighty dollar. Nothing is more potent 
for success in business than politeness. Good manners 
are externalized kindness. Back of them is the spirit 
of the golden rule. That is why they bring so hand¬ 
some a financial return. Politeness pays, pays exceed¬ 
ingly well, while rudeness invariably costs dearly in the 
long run, and occasionally in the short run too. Polite¬ 
ness pays her who exercises it first of all in building 
beauty and strength in her character and increasing 
her self-respect, and that increases her happiness. 

No one gets either pleasure or profit out of rudeness 
and discourtesy. Everybody knows this, yet many fall 
into the wretched habit of giving way to ill-temper 
and impatience at any provocation, however trifling. 

A habit of politeness is as good as a gold mine for 
bringing in money. And it costs nothing but a little 
self-mastery. After the habit is formed no one addicted 
to it would exchange it for the privilege, of going into 
“ tangents” at will. 

It is charged against women that in business they are 
less patient and polite than men. Perhaps they are 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


129 


often more nervous, more irritable, and possess less 
self-control. This being the case it is all the more 
necessary for them to set about the work of improvement 
in this direction. No proprietor can afford to treat 
either customer or employ^ impolitely. The humblest 
person we encounter is entitled to kindness at our 
hands. His influence may be weak, but it goes to 
make up that curious force we call public opinion, and 
can help or hurt us to an extent we do not dream. 
Besides, the humblest of to-day may be the highest 
to-morrow. 

Gentle words are great powers. They go forth to 
bring us friends and fortune. Whom do we love best? 
Not always those who do the most for us, if they ac¬ 
company their gifts and favors with rebuke or cold 
manners. Naturally our hearts turn most fondly to 
those who have always sweet and gentle words for us, 
though they give us nothing else. 

Spoken words are thoughts expressed, and thought 
is creative. To whatever extent we are able to guide 
and control thought we shall be competent to govern in 
matters of tremendous importance. 

The foolishness and destructiveness of hasty and 
impatient speech cannot be told. The burden of one’s 
word is the greatest of all burdens. Purify your 
speech of anger, irony, vindictiveness, hate, cruelty, 
slander, or fault-finding,- until not even in the tone you 
employ is left a shade of these evils. When you have 
done this you are already well into the kingdom of 
righteousness. 

In business more even than in the home, is there 
great need of self-mastery. The attrition is great; 
there are many irritations and provocations to anger, 
9 


130 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


constant contact with the public makes it necessary 
that one should be most watchful. The first step to 
self-mastery is control of speech. This creates the 
power to guide the thought. Persisted in, this will 
drive away anger and impatience forever. Only he who 
is lord of himself is fit to rule others. 

A business life is a great discipline for woman or 
man. Nobody can afford to be impolite. The follow¬ 
ing story, taken from a newspaper, is one instance out of 
thousands where he who dealt out discourtesy had his 
bitter bread returned to him after many days :— 

“ It was about two months ago that I went to Young’s 
to lunch, one day, feeling overworked, tired, and cross, 
I suppose. Looking up and down the tables in the 
part of the room where I always prefer to sit, I saw one 
table where there were two empty chairs, one of which, 
however, had been turned down by a quiet-looking man 
with a black beard, who sat at the table. I took the 
other empty chair, and ordered my lunch. 

“ Just as I had begun to eat, a friend of mine—Per- 
kinson of Milk Street—whom I wanted to see very 
much, came in and walked down past the tables. There 
was a business matter between us which I was anxious 
to consummate. I was also anxious to keep at my 
lunch. I looked at the chair that was turnect down, 
and it struck me that my neighbor’s friend, for 
whom he was keeping the place, was a long time coming 
in. I have told you already that I was a little cross. 
So I quietly turned back the chair and invited Perkin- 
son to sit down, whereupon the man with the black 
beard looked up in surprise. 

“ 4 1 was keeping that chair for a friend,’ said he. 

“ ‘ It strikes me, sir, that your friend is a long time 
coming,’ said I, ill-naturedly, ‘ and I don’t think any 
one has a right to retain a seat to the exclusion of every¬ 
body else.’ 

“ The black-bearded man said no more, though he 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


131 


looked me over carefully, and Perkinson sat down. 
Presently the other man’s friend came in, and the black- 
bearded man got up, had his dishes removed to another 
table, after some bother to get hold of a waiter, and 
they sat down together, while we went on with our 
lunch and our business. 

“ A bout a month after that there was a matter of some 
11,000 difference in a transaction between a man in our 
trade and myself, and we agreed to leave it out to 
arbitration. We each selected our man, and they 
selected a third, who wasn’t known to me, but who was 
said to be a very fair man. I had my side set forth in 
good shape, and knew I should have won the case easily 
enough. But when I went in to see the arbitrators, and 
gave a glance at the third man, my heart sank. It was 
the black-bearded man whose chair I had taken posses¬ 
sion of at Young’s. Now I believe that that man may 
have been fully resolved to decide the case on its merits, 
but I don’t believe that he or any other man could have 
done so under the circumstances. My rude act stuck 
in his crop, that was all. He decided dead against me, 
and served me right. I shall always believe that it cost 
me just a thousand dollars to turn back that man’s 
chair.” 


ALL DOORS WILL ADMIT YOU. 

In an open letter to young girls, Jeannette L. Gilder, 
well known in New York journalism, points the sure 
road to prosperity. She says : 

“ The young women of to-day do not realize their 
opportunities. They should have been born yesterday 
to do that. The world is now just as much their oyster 
as it is their brothers’, and some of them will prove 
more skillful in opening it. I do not know of any walk 
that a woman cares to enter that she would now find 
closed to her on account of her sex. If she has the 
business sense she needs nothing more. Opportunity is 


132 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


a good thing, but a determined woman will make it for 
herself if she does not find it at hand. 

“ I believe that men and women are on a pretty equal 
footing, except, perhaps, in the matter of physical 
strength and powers of endurance, though even here I 
am sure a great many women can hold their own with 
their brothers. 

44 If I were one of you young women, just starting 
out in life, I would not ask any consideration- on the 
score of sex, but on that of work only. I would make 
up my mind that the strongest objection that is made 
against women workers—want of thoroughness—could 
not be made against me. I would adopt the career of 
my choice, and devote myself to it with as firm a deter¬ 
mination to succeed as though there were no such thing 
as marriage or giving in marriage. Your work, if you 
undertake it, should be no stop-gap between the school¬ 
room and the altar. Not that you should not marry i£ 
you feel so inclined, but you should not take up any 
business saying, 4 Oh, well, I suppose that I will get 
married some day, and this will do till then.’ What¬ 
ever you do, do it seriously and with your whole heart. 
As to the line of your work, you must be the judge. 
Everything is before you. You have only to choose, 
but you must choose from the heart. Do the thing you 
feel the most impelled to do, for that is the thing you 
will do the best. 

“ I would, however, warn you not to be easily dis¬ 
couraged. It will be a hard fight for you, just as it 
would be for your brother, for while there are no lines 
of work you may not take up, there is no royal road to 
any one of them. You are fortunate, not only if you do 
not have to begin at the bottom, but if you do not have 
to wait some time before you can begin at all. All 
doors will admit you, but they are not all standing 
wide open. Choose carefully, and then knock loud 
and long if necessary, and you will be heard and admit¬ 
ted if you have chosen wfisely. 

44 Do not forget, however, that it is well to know 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


133 


something about the management of a home, for even 
‘girl bachelors’ cannot afford to be at the mercy of 
incompetent or unscrupulous people any more than 
married women can. Domestic economy leads to hap¬ 
piness, if not to wealth. Live within your means, and 
put a little nest-egg aside for a rainy day.” 


134 


WOMEN IN THE B USINESS WOULD. 


XVI. 

SAYING AND DOING. 

THE POTENCY OF FAITH. 

The things we say influence our destiny quite as 
much as the things we do. Words are very potent for 
good or ill. They are the vehicles of thought, and 
thought has substance. “ Thoughts are things.” Be¬ 
cause of this potency of words, be careful how you use 
them. Don’t go about saying that you know nothing 
about business. As sure as you do others will take you 
at your word and hold you in contempt, or impose on 
you. In every way it will militate against your suc¬ 
cess. Perhaps you may know little or nothing about 
business, but it is not necessary to say so ; you can learn. 
A law governs the use of words. There as elsewhere that 
which you sow you shall reap. If you assert that you 
have not a certain quality, you are diminishing the 
little store of it you may be possessed of. While, on 
the contrary, if you use what you have and assert that 
you have it, more will be given you. Strange law, in¬ 
deed, but true. Use increases the store and disuse and 
disclaiming decreases it. Better say, “ Yes, I can do 
it. I am sure I can do it.” With the very assertion 
of ability you feel added power. Think and say of 
whatever you are trying to do that you can do it as well 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 135 

as an 3 'body in the world, and you will soon be able to 
do so. Within ourselves, within each one of us, lie 
possibilities undreamed of. There is nothing, abso¬ 
lutely nothing we can not do if we deliberately set 
our will to do it and hold steadily to our purpose. 

Faith is as necessary in business as anywhere else. 
It is a purely spiritual quality, and business is an ex¬ 
pression of spiritual activity, as are all other forms of 
energy chosen by mankind. To do anything, great or 
small, we must have faith that we can do it. By faith 
are born all inventions, all achievements. First, the 
wish to do a thing, then the faith to do it. These two 
potencies united accomplish all that man has ever 
accomplished. Remember that, and be careful not to 
put out a word that would help to disintegrate either 
your desire or your faith. Every time you say, “ I 
don’t believe I can ever do this thing,” you are making 
the way more difficult for yourself. But whenever 
you say, u Yes, I am sure I can do it,” you are making 
the way easier. Remember that faith, as a grain of 
mustard seed, is success in all undertakings. “ Faith is 
always the substance of things hoped for, and is the 
power which enables us to successfully accomplish every 
act of life.” 

THE INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF THE FUTURE. 

Liberal education in the future will not consist solely 
of memory-cramming. The hand, as well as the head, 
will be educated in both men and women. A distin¬ 
guished educator, Daniel C. Gilman, of Johns Hopkins 
University, says : 

“ The experience of a single generation in the sys¬ 
tematic development of manly sports gives us reason to 


136 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


believe that, if during the coming decades, colleges 
would encourage hand craft, as they have been promot¬ 
ing arm craft, leg craft, and chest craft, corresponding 
gains would be secured.” 

Health and beauty walk hand in hand with skill and 
strength, and scholarship and learning make up the 
noble companionship. The work of the head must be 
supplemented by the work of the hand in a really liberal 
education. No phase of culture so deeply concerns the 
future welfare of the race as that of industrial educa¬ 
tion. The day is almost past when either men or 
women whose hands are unskilled will be considered 
educated, no matter how loaded their memories may be 
with text-book lore. 

Great development of character comes from the intel¬ 
ligent use of the hands, which were not given us to 
look at, but to use. 

don’t watch the clock. 

Edison, when asked by a young man what rule would 
best insure worldly success replied, “ Don’t watch the 
clock.” There is greater wisdom condensed in that 
sentence than appears at a single reading. The boy 
who is anxiously looking forward to the quitting hour 
is not apt to please an employer. He makes the mis¬ 
take of being afraid of giving too much. Also, if he 
watches the clock, his mind is not wholly on his work— 
he is giving what he is doing but a divided interest, a 
part of his mind. Nobody ever is anything but a medi¬ 
ocre who does that. The “get-there road,” must be 
traveled earnestly, not indifferently. The walker there¬ 
on must set his steps at a brisk pace, and saunter not. 
Nor is this difficult or unpleasant. Any one who tries 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 137 

it will find a far greater pleasure in earnest work than 
in trifling. Sweet is well-earned repose. To be 
honestly tired brings its own reward. 

WOMAN AS A C ON SEE, Y ATI YE FACTOR. 

In one of the World’s Fair Congresses, Mrs. Henrotin, 
of Chicago, while discussing the subject, “ Women in 
Finance,” said: 

“Many of the great financial difficulties of the 
country come from the fact that the women realize in 
no manner its financial condition. It is imperative that 
woman now take a new stand in the financial world, 
and should be informed as to the financial condition of 
the country, and not only that, but she should have 
the sense of responsibility which would make her attend 
the meetings of the institutions in which she holds 
stock. There is a -large number of intelligent women 
in this country owning great financial interests. These 
women would make excellent directors; with a little 
exertion they could acquire the requisite knowledge 
of finance, and then relieve the men of some of the tre¬ 
mendous burdens from which they now suffer. If once 
the feeling of moral responsibility toward the financial 
interests of the country could be aroused in woman, it 
would be greatly to the advantage of the country. 
She hates to be in debt , and extended lines of credit pre¬ 
sent no charms for her. She would be a tremendous 
conservative factor could she once undertake the man¬ 
agement of financial affairs. ” 

FOUR FORTUNATE DAUGHTERS. 

The following story, from the New York Sun, one of 
the best newspapers in existence, may help to make 
some other mothers wise in the same way. 

“ There was once a wise mother. This does not mean 


138 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


that the species is now extinct, though some cynical 
people, whose top hair is somewhat thin, support the 
idea. The wise mother was the wife of a prosperous 
father, who was a successful Liverpool merchant. She 
was also a descendant of one of the oldest and proudest 
families in England. 

44 Associated with this father and this mother in the 
business of family life were four daughters. There 
wasn’t the least prospect that any one of the four would 
ever be called upon to earn her livelihood, but it was 
right here, nevertheless, that the mother’s wisdom as¬ 
serted itself. The eldest daughter received a musical 
education which in itself would have brought her a good 
income. In addition to this she served an apprentice¬ 
ship to a confectioner and pastry cook. She paid a heavy 
premium for it, but the things she learned to make would 
have warmed the heart of the coldest critic to praise. 

44 The second daughter was initiated into the mysteries 
of clear starching, so that her laces and kerchiefs and other 
dainty fabrics were the envy of all her friends. This 
wasn’t enough to satisfy the wise mother, however, and 
this daughter, in her turn, 44 served her time ” at a 
large outfitter’s, whose business was almost entirely 
with India and the colonies. In that business success 
depended not so much upon the workmanship of the 
goods as upon the manner in which they were packed. 
This wise woman’s daughter learned how to pack every¬ 
thing, from a tailor-made gown to Venetian glassware. 

44 Incidentally it may be mentioned that, in packing for 
long transit, gloves were put into bottles and sealed up 
with wax, like so much catsup. This is because other¬ 
wise the thread would become rotten, causing the gloves 
to rip. Thus were two daughters armed against fate 
and fortune by the forethought of their wise mother. But 
there remained two more to be cared for, and one of these 
was delicate and threatened with the loss of her eyesight. 
She was encouraged to study vocal music. This was to 
strengthen her lungs, and as she could practice all day 
long if she chose in a darkened room it did not tax her 
eyes. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


139 


“ The fourth daughter, much against the will of the 
wise mother, was as bent on studying to be a governess 
as the famous frog who felt a settled inclination toward 
wooing. The mother wanted her daughters to be 
proficient in directions where their talents would shine 
with a peculiar lustre because of the scarcity of com¬ 
petitive lights. But if her daughter was determined to 
be a governess she should be one whose right to 
supremacy none would dispute, so a special tutor was 
engaged to coach the young woman in university 
studies. Music and drawing were added, not as 
accomplishments, but as means to an end. 

“ Of course, all of these four daughters might have 
found their lines lying always in pleasant places, and in 
that case the extreme wisdom of their maternal training 
would not have been so palpable. But it happened that 
the governess, after the lapse of some years, found it 
necessary to earn her own living. She at once secured 
a position at a salary double the usual amount paid. 
This was followed by teaching the congregated children 
of several families who sought for superior services, 
until finally she had one of the finest schools in that 
part of the country. 

“ Thanks to the wisdom of that mother every one of 
her daughters could have made a good living had the 
necessity arisen. Except in the one case it did not arise. 
But the training they had received was by no means 
lost, even in the fortunate places that fell to their lot.” 


140 


WOMEN IN TEE BUSINESS WORLD. 


XVII. 

THE ALLUREMENTS OF SCIENCE. 

WOMAN IN MEDICINE. 

The woman doctor of to-day travels a smooth road in 
comparison with that of her professional sister of a couple 
of decades ago. Pioneering in medicine for women is over 
—at least the roughest of it. Formerly, the woman who 
chose to become a physician experienced great difficulty 
in getting a medical education, and had the sentiment 
of the public against her besides. Now the doors of the 
schools are open to her, patients are waiting for her, 
and the public accepts her without an antagonistic word. 

The first woman doctor of note in this country was 
Harriet K. Hunt, of Boston. She was educated in her 
profession by private instruction and began practice in 
1835. Twelve years afterward she applied to Harvard 
University for admission, but was not admitted. Three 
years later the faculty were willing to receive her, but 
as the students objected, she declined to attend, and 
continued a successful practice in Boston for more than 
a quarter of a century. 

Now nearly three thousand women practice medicine 
in the United States, and most of them are more than 
ordinarily successful. It may be said of the woman 
doctor, as of the little girl with the curl: “ When she is 
good, she is very good, indeed.” 


Women in the business world. 141 

One woman in England lias been appointed house sur¬ 
geon in a children’s hospital, the first of her sex to hold 
such a post in London. Nine male candidates for the 
place were vanquished by her superior qualifications. 
She is both “ Bachelor of Medicine ” and “ Bachelor of 
Surgery,” of the London University. Paris, for a time, 
had a woman medical examiner of girls in its municipal 
schools. The examiner’s duty is to see that the girls 
are not overworked, and that they get through their 
studies under sanitary conditions. 

The time has gone by when woman’s right to heal the 
sick admits of any question. Discussion has given place 
to acceptance. The woman doctor is not standing with¬ 
out, asking if she may come in. She is already in, and 
as a general thing, too busy attending to her duties to 
talk about her rights. The fact is, with the exception 
of suffrage, which she cannot take until she is allowed 
to do so, woman can have whatever rights she chooses 
to take. The taking, however, is not always easy. The 
price has to be paid. If she is willing to pay, she can 
have what she wants. 

In hospitals where a large proportion of patients are 
women, the woman physician is a great blessing. Rhoda 
Gale, the woman medical student in Charles Reade’s 
“Woman Hater,” in describing the clinics at the in¬ 
firmary, says: “We held a little aloof from the male 
patients, we stood behind the male students; but we did 
crowd around the beds of female patients, and claimed 
the inner row ; and, sir, they thanked God for us openly.” 

The extension of medical education to women, which 
began a dozen years ago, is increasing the number of 
woman doctors and enlarging the public’s appreciation 
of them. The only reasonable excuse for the prejudice 


142 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


formerly existing against them was the inadequacy of 
their training, for which they were not to blame. Now 
wherever there are medical colleges admitting them, a 
colony of women students will be found, as sincere and 
earnest as any of the privileged sex, and far less noisy 
and uncertain of conduct. 

The woman doctor goes through severe discipline 
to qualify herself for future usefulness ; but if she is 
possessed of genius for her work, and applies herself to 
it zealously, she will achieve enviable financial inde¬ 
pendence. 

To begin with, she should have strong predilections 
for the profession—should be a born doctor, not a made 
one. This is the only kind that ever succeeds in the 
true sense of the word. A genius for healing and help¬ 
ing underlies all the training of the greatest lights of 
medicine. Next to that, good health and a stout though 
sympathetic heart are most essential, granting, as a 
matter of course, that the head is duly supplied with 
brains. In this calling more than any other, perhaps, 
the higher or subjective senses need to be developed, 
though of this the- schools have nothing to say. 

A good preliminary education previous to entering 
the medical college is indispensable. A practitioner of 
either sex who spells “ physician,” “ fisition ” as did a 
male doctor of some eminence not ten years ago, would 
not inspire confidence. Learning commensurate to the 
need of the times is demanded. The doctor’s edu¬ 
cation is never complete. If she is true to her highest 
duty, she never settles down to contentment with her 
acquirements. That would be to place herself in the 
ranks of the commonplace. She knows no age, because 
she is always studying and acquiring knowledge. This 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


143 


keeps her young in person and as fresh in mind as the 
new graduate. Nor does she study in books only. She 
is alive to the importance of anything bearing on her 
profession which another may say, no matter how 
untaught in science the speaker may be. She knows 
that the wisdom of the schools is not unbounded, nor is 
it the only wisdom. 

The quality of sympathy, a quality so precious that 
many place it higher than love—should be cultivated 
all the time by the doctor. It brings success, and much 
greater rewards than professional success. She must 
take an interest in her patients as friends and human 
souls with whom the casualties of life have brought her 
in touch, and be all to them it is possible to be. She 
will often find herself their confessor, with the 
opportunity of giving spiritual and moral as well as 
physical help. From their tales of sorrow, doubt or 
misery she must not turn away. The sick soul often 
needs healing more than the body. These are the doc¬ 
tor’s greatest opportunities for helping humankind. 
Some spiritual message has she for every one whom she 
attends. In ways dictated by sympathy and love she 
leaves upon their minds the perception of their kinship 
of spirit,—their oneness,—and this has great power to 
console and comfort and cure. 

Truly, the pathway of the noble-minded doctor, 
though arduous, is not without great compensations, 
the greatest of which is the spiritual gain from minis¬ 
tering to suffering souls. 

IN DENTAL SURGERY. 

In this profession women have distinguished them¬ 
selves, though so far not in great numbers. They have 


144 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


no trouble gaining an entrance to the Dental Colleges, 
and receive exactly the same training as do men. That 
they have not more numerously availed themselves of 
these privileges is doubtless owing to the fact that dent¬ 
istry is so arduous a profession, so full of disagreeable 
incidents that even the hardier spirit of man hesitates 
about going into it. 

Though the training embraces all features of the 
science, it is possible for a practitioner to devote herself 
to the least disagreeable ones, if she chooses. For in¬ 
stance, few dentists in great cities do any extracting. 
This hideous work is all done by specialists, to whom 
the other dentists, who fill teeth and make artificial 
ones, contribute patients. A woman doctor of dental 
surgery in a New England state employs six assistants. 
She examines the patient and does the filling, while all 
the assistants save one, who helps her with the filling, 
are engaged in making artificial teeth. 

The woman dentist’s patients are usually women and 
children. To these she is a great comfort because she 
is a woman, and because, if she is successful she has 
tact and sympathy. The woman assistant now con¬ 
sidered indispensable in all dentists’ offices, is a greater 
factor in his success than he is always aware of. 
Patients of her own sex feel comfortable because of her 
presence. Frequently she is on her way to be a full- 
fledged dentist. In that case her services are more 
valuable to her employer, and she is of even greater 
importance in her character of protector of patients 
than if she were a mere serving maid, who had no ambi¬ 
tion higher than to get her weekly salary. This degree 
of intelligence fixes her value, and gives her the respect 
of others in accordance with her deserts. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


145 


In the Cincinnati Dental College at one commence¬ 
ment when twenty-six graduates received diplomas, 
only one was a woman. In addition to her degree she 
was awarded the highest prize—a gold medal—for 
excellence in examination, her average exceeding that 
of the others by eighteen per cent. This has occurred 
twice at the same college. 

In Germany women dentists are practicing success¬ 
fully in all the great cities. In New York a woman 
dentist who is enthusiastic about her profession has 
one of the finest offices and best practices in the city. 
This is a calling which enables a woman to superintend 
both home and profession at the same time, the offices 
usually being located in the houses of the practitioners. 

WOMEN PHARMACISTS. 

Until recent years women showed no desire to enter 
this profession, though it is remunerative and far less 
arduous than that of medicine, and is one in which she 
can excel. The Louisville College of Pharmacy was 
the first to open its doors to women. Now, all the 
schools of Pharmacy and Chemistry in this country and 
Europe are open to them, and Louisville has a college 
designed for women only. Those in the schools of the 
British Pharmaceutical Association are highly compli¬ 
mented by their teachers as devoted, faithful, intel¬ 
ligent students. 

A regularly licensed woman pharmacist at the pre¬ 
scription counter of a popular pharmacy, according to 
the testimony of her employer, is the most capable, 
conscientious and responsible assistant he has been able 
to secure during the thirty years he has been engaged 
10 


146 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


in the drug business. She keeps the same hours, has 
the same duties, and receives the same pay as the men 
employed in the establishment. She is at her post from 
8 in the morning until 10 or 11 and sometimes 12 at 
night, with only one afternoon in the week off duty, 
and every other Sunday. 

In her opinion, the work is of a kind peculiarly fitted 
to women—the delicate weighing, the accurate measur¬ 
ing, the great caution demanded, the seriousness of even 
small mistakes, and, above all, the neatness and order 
required in the preparation of medicines, the making of 
tinctures, the compounding of pills, are all most decid¬ 
edly within the woman’s province. 

“ It is not a profession for women who are not in¬ 
terested in their work and willing to give it their 
undivided attention,” she said; “ for you can’t chatter 
at your work, and put in strychnine for arsenic, j^ou 
know, and have it all right; but it is well-paid and 
fascinating work, for there are some new features every 
day.” 

One objection urged against women pharmacists is, 
that the work is too heavy for them; but the fact is, 
there is no necessity for a woman going into a cellar to 
unpack boxes. Men prescriptionists don’t do it. Porters 
or junior clerks take care of such work. There should 
be one woman pharmacist in every large house, as 
there are many things ladies don’t like to buy from 
men. 

This is a profession in which little capital is required 
to start in as a proprietor in a modest way. New open¬ 
ings are always ready wherever new towns are being 
made or old ones enlarged. Let capable women fill 
some of them. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


147 


WOMEN MATHEMATICIANS. 

Although fashions, rather than fluxions, are popularly 
supposed to be the peculiar province of women, never¬ 
theless women have furnished a very respectable list of 
mathematical celebrities, even within the last century. 
Two women astronomers—one of Hamburg and one of 
Boston—discovered the comet known as Olbers’ almost 
at the same moment, though studying the heavens in¬ 
dependently. In our own days, fora long time a woman 
was director of the astronomical observatory of Rome, 
which was always famous for the brilliancy of its staff. 
She was one of the ablest mathematicians of the century, 
and a member of nearly every European learned society, 
but so modest and unobtrusive that only a few of her own 
countrymen knew that the work of the great observatory 
of the capitol was conducted under the supervision of a 
woman. A woman filled the mathematical chair in the 
University of Stockholm many years, much to the sur¬ 
prise of that part of the world who imagine the femi¬ 
nine mind incapable of mastering so abstract and logical 
a branch of knowledge as the science of numbers in its 
higher developments and application. 

No greater example of perseverance against difficul¬ 
ties can be cited than the life of Mary Somerville, 
“ whose name stands at the top of the scanty roll of 
women eminent in science.” At the age of fourteen a 
friend taught her some fancy work from a fashion maga¬ 
zine. On one of the pages she saw some strange x’s 
and y’s, and was told they belonged to a kind of arith¬ 
metic called algebra, but nobody could explain it to her. 
It was even next to impossible to procure books to study 
from. At last her brother’s tutor bought her Euclid’s 


148 


Women in tue business would, 


geometry and Bonnycastle’s algebra, and she set to work 
to master the contents without an* instructor. It was 
necessary to first brush up her knowledge of arithmetic, 
which had never been very exact. Indeed, at this time, 
she frankly said she could not add up a column of fig¬ 
ures correctly. She studied at night till there was com¬ 
plaint that she used up candles too fast, and she was 
deprived of them altogether. Then she began review¬ 
ing her geometry from memory at night. The intellect¬ 
ual rank assigned women by public opinion at that time 
was very low, and any attempt on their part to rise 
higher was met by prompt and severe disapproval. 

Not until she was thirty-three years old, a widow with 
two children, did she possess a library of mathematical 
books. This treasure was the reward of a long course 
of years in which she had persevered almost without 
hope. She was considered eccentric and foolish even by 
her own family, and much of her studying had to be 
done in secret. One of her male admirers accompanied 
his offer of marriage by a pamphlet on the “ Duties of a 
Wife,” with the pages turned down at the narrowest 
precepts. After her second marriage, her life, flowed 
smoothly, success followed success; the leading scien¬ 
tific men of England did her honor, and she lived to the 
age of ninety-one, working till the day of her death upon 
her difficult calculations. 

The young woman of the present day has everything 
to encourage her to make the most of herself intellect¬ 
ually. Schools and colleges are open to her, books are 
numerous and cheap, public opinion is favorable to her 
mental development—everything aids and nothing ob¬ 
structs her in her march onward and upward. All doors 
are open to her. If she fails to accomplish some worthy 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD . 


149 


thing, to reach success in some field of action, it will he 
her own fault. She cannot charge it to the limitations 
society builds around her, for she is free to do what she 
will. 

A little more than fifty years ago Harriet Martineau 
had to keep a hit of fancy work at hand to throw over 
the books she had been studying and the notes she had 
been making, when callers came. The needle was con¬ 
sidered a respectable toy for women, the pen a scandal¬ 
ous plaything. 


150 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD . 


XVIII. 

THE LIBERAL ARTS. 

APPLIED DESIGN. 

There is a school of Applied Design for women in 
New York City, though not all the world is aware of it. 
It has been in existence more than two years, and is 
located at the corner of Twenty-third Street and Seventh 
Avenue. Mrs. Dunlap Hopkins is the founder, and so 
successful has been her management, that she was called 
to England to aid in adding a similar department to the 
Kensington Art School. 

Two hundred pupils are in regular attendance in the 
different classes. A girl must be 16 years old in order 
to enter, but there is no age-limit in the other direction, 
so that there are young girls of 16 and women of 40 or 
50 in the same classes. Married women who have been 
left widows with children to support are thus able to 
make a practical use of the talents which have served 
only to form amateur accomplishments. 

The list of classes includes those in designing carpets, 
wall-papers, silk, furniture, book covers, metal work, and 
others in etching, illustrating, lithography and archi¬ 
tectural draughting. The teachers are practical men 
from factories and architects’ offices. Mrs. Hopkins’s 
school is being exactly copied by the Princess Christian 
in the new London venture. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


151 


DECORATIVE ART. 

In this profession, women will excel when the oppor¬ 
tunities for study are better for them. Many have 
strong artistic tastes and true instincts, and some are 
already making name and fame. Nothing offers greater 
scope for originality. The true genius will rise rapidly 
here. 

Miss Charlotte Robinson, of England, superintended 
all the upholstering, interior fittings and decoration of 
the magnificent ocean steamship, the “ Campania,” of 
the Cunard line. 

Her story of getting recognition for her artistic ability, 
ought to be a lesson in patience and persistence to every 
other woman who aspires. Feeling assured that she 
had true artistic instincts, and a natural gift for design, 
she received thorough training in art designing and 
modeling. In Manchester, her native city, she opened 
rooms of artistic furniture. For a time it seemed that 
she was doomed to defeat, for nobody bought from 
her, and few orders came in. Such orders as she had, 
however, she executed so satisfactorily that more 
followed. 

At the Manchester Exhibition, she fitted up a place 
with her artistic furniture, which drew the attention of 
royalty and won for her the appointment of “ Decorator to 
the Queen.” Success and fortune were assured. She 
became adviser in decorative subjects to the magazine 
Queen , and opened a London branch of her business. 
She takes orders for the decoration of large hotels, 
theaters and public buildings, as well as for homes, and 
is said to be the first business woman to receive recog¬ 
nition from Her Majesty. 


152 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


A young woman of Chicago is assistant to a popular 
house decorator. She thinks the employment a capital 
one for girls, and wonders why more of them are not to 
be found unrolling wall-papers and coaxing undecided 
clients to let them suggest schemes of coloring for their 
rooms. She began as a bookkeeper, but was advanced 
as soon as her employer found that not only she could, 
as well as any man, persuade the customers who did 
not know their own minds to take precisely those goods 
which the establishment wished to get rid of, but also 
had an eye for color and patience to find just the thing 
more determined people had in mind. 

A California woman began her business career as a 
designer of decorations, with a stock-in-trade—as she her¬ 
self put it—of “ a pair of scissors and a reel of wire.” 
Now she has seven young women to assist her in making 
houses gorgeous • with flowers and drapery for weddings 
or balls. She lends money to other women to enable 
them to raise the sorts of flowers she most needs, and in 
many other ways finds the pleasure of helping less happy 
sisters, which is the brightest reward successful women 
know. 

An artist maiden in an Eastern city caught the fashion¬ 
able fancy by her graceful sketches of children’s heads, 
flowers and birds, and now has her hands full of orders 
for decorated dinner cards. 

PRACTICAL PAINTING. 

Since so many young women are extravagantly fond 
of wielding the paint brush, it is remarkable that so few 
turn this taste to practical account. They spend un¬ 
limited time in ornamenting and sometimes disfiguring 
innocent plaques and unoffending china; but as for 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


153 


painting a sign-board which would put money in their 
purse and add to the supply of useful things, they 
couldn’t do it, and never would think of trying. Yet 
here is an opportunity of handling the brush to some 
purpose. Why not learn how to letter sign-boards, 
decorate carts, omnibuses, railway carriages, furniture 
and every other article that needs the touch of the 
practical painter ? 

Surely it is more commendable to do well some brush- 
work of this kind than to persevere in daubing things 
which would better be left as they are, since beauty 
is not always achieved. 

PHOTOGRAPHY. 

Why do not more women take up photography? 
This calling is peculiarly suitable to them, and is one for 
which the training requires less time and money than 
almost any other that has as good pecuniary results. 
As for the demand, good work will always create it. 
Wherever a photographer is known to make fine and 
pleasing pictures, his rooms are overrun with subjects. 
In small towns many persons never sit for photographs 
because the result is sure to be trying to their vanity. 
In other words the operator has the unhappy talent of 
bringing out the worst instead of the best of his subject. 
He has no genius for his profession. 

The good photographer must be an artist as well as 
a mere picture-taker. This is all that constitutes the 
difference between one who is overrun with orders, and 
one who languishes for lack of them. Aside from a 
thorough knowledge of the practical part of the business, 
the woman who undertakes it should be full of artistic 
feeling, and have a true eye for artistic effect. She 


154 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD . 


should know how to pose her subjects to the best 
advantage; to make every portrait a picture, for her 
success depends upon tickling, not mortifying, their 
vanity. 

In no work does the performer put more of herself 
than in taking a photograph. Although the camera 
registers the impression, nevertheless she who manipu¬ 
lates the camera gets into it too. This is one of those 
subtle things nobody can either explain or deny. Un¬ 
consciously we put more or less of ourselves into every¬ 
thing we do, therefore the more cultivated and pleasing 
our personality the more pleasing will be our work. 

Photography is almost a fine art. It means some¬ 
thing more than turning the camera on a sitter and 
“ taking ” him, just as he is, with all his drawbacks 
thick upon him. The artist immediately sees the best 
in his subject and knows how to bring it out. The 
result is the subject is pleased with himself, and that’s 
the secret of getting patronage in any pursuit. Make 
your patrons think well of themselves. That’s what 
makes some persons get on where all others find the 
road stony. They have a way of increasing the self- 
respect of every one they encounter. It is a 'great, a 
beautiful, a benevolent art. 

Women are clerks, colorists and finishers in photo¬ 
graphic rooms, but few take hold as operators and 
proprietors, though the capital necessary to a beginning 
is not great. A woman photographer in a territorial 
city gets ten dollars a dozen for her photographs and 
has all the work she and two assistants can do. Here 
and there over the whole country others are doing well 
in this profession. The only wonder is why more of 
the most cultivated women do not go into it. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


155 


CAMEO CARVING. 

The carving of cameos, now a popular pastime and 
fad with rich women, might be made a profitable in¬ 
dustry. The shells used are known as “ black helmets,” 
and are brought from the West Indies. Red and yel¬ 
low ones are found on the China coast. A shell costs 
from $2 to $5, and produces three or four carvings. If 
artistically carved and thoroughly polished they are 
marketable at a figure by no means insignificant, par¬ 
ticularly as there is just now a revival of carved heads 
for brooches. 

Little “gravers” and “scoopers” are used to cut 
with, several of them of different sizes. The art is one 
which can as well be learned by women as by men, as 
is proven by the vogue it is in among the class who 
have more leisure than is good for them. 

The polishing is done with pumice stone, and usually 
requires more time and patience than the carving. 
Three separate methods of polishing are the rule—the 
first with pumice stone and water, the second with 
pumice stone and oil, the third with fine dust and sul¬ 
phuric acid. 

The result i§ often .beautiful and artistic. As this 
art can be acquired in a short time, and public taste is 
in an appreciative mood, some women might find it 
“ available,” as the magazine editors say, in polite notes 
to contributors, in writing of their contributions. 

ARCHITECTURE. 

The prevailing belief is that women cannot be archi¬ 
tects, because the work involves great physical strength, 
considerable practice in fooling around on scaffolds and 


156 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


other decidedly mannish doings. The popular mind is 
greatly in the dark on the subject of this profession. It 
cannot separate the designer from the constructor in 
architecture. 

In truth, when it comes to “ nice ” work, entirely with¬ 
out the rough element, this profession is ahead. As 
draughtsmen there is abundant work to do for those 
who can do it well. In Manchester, England, women 
are employed in making drawings for architects, and in 
engineering works; and ship-builders on the Tyne find 
them useful as assistants in their offices. 

Several young women have taken the course in archi¬ 
tecture at Cornell University, where the conditions are 
the same for women as for men, with two exceptions. 
The age of entrance for them is not younger than 17 
years, while boy students are admitted at 16, and they, 
the women, are exempt from military service. 

The course begins with simple linear drawing and 
practical geometry, and includes mechanics, house¬ 
planning, the study of building materials and construc¬ 
tion, architecture, ancient and modern, warming, ven¬ 
tilation, acoustics, designing and decorating. _ In the 
senior year, also, instruction is given in professional 
practice, measuring, contracts, specifications, etc., thus 
preparing graduates to enter practical work. 

The University of Illinois has graduated young 
women in architecture. 

This profession is, to a great extent, master of the 
hygiene of our homes, and for that reason should be of 
peculiar interest to women, who are the greatest suf¬ 
ferers from whatever is defective in them. Frequently 
the houses are so planned that the housekeeper and her 
assistants are compelled to take hundreds of steps where 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


157 


ten would answer, but for the dull perceptions of the 
designer of the house. In the important matter of 
closets the brain of the man architect is seldom fertile, 
because he does not realize the need of them, as do the 
women members of the family. Convenient places to 
put clothes and other indispensable adjuncts of daily 
life, are things for which the heart of woman instinc¬ 
tively yearns, and which, alas ! she does not always 
possess. 

The disposition of the debris or refuse incidental to 
the operation of a household is another question not 
always solved to the satisfaction of the housekeeper by 
the men who plan and build her dwelling. 

PIANO AND ORGAN TUNING. 

Very few women have adopted this profession, though 
it is one that could be pursued by them quite as success¬ 
fully as by men, and has more money in it than many 
callings requiring greater outlay in the matter of prep¬ 
aration. One who has some knowledge of music and 
a delicate ear and touch could surely find enjoyment 
and pleasure as well as profit in it. Now that several 
conservatories of music have tuning departments, the 
systematic study of the theory and practice of tuning 
can be undertaken without great inconvenience. 

Some who have adopted this profession have done 
well. It involves enough manual labor to make it 
wholesome, and needs sufficient mental application to 
make it interesting. Best of all it gives immediate 
results, both in the work done and the pay it yields. 
With the increasing number of pianos sold, the demand 
for the services of tuners increases all the time, so the 


158 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


profession is not overcrowded. Many tuners have a 
list of twenty-five towns or more, which they visit 
regularly, each town containing from fifty to a hundred 
pianos requiring their services twice a year. This gives 
an income of which either man or woman might be 
proud. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


159 


XIX. 

THE WRITTEN WORD. 

NOVEL-WEITING. 

This is a subject on which much misinformation pre¬ 
vails. Wild stories of the fabulous sums received by 
fortunate romancers excite the imagination of the young 
of both sexes, and lead on to great expenditure of time 
and stationery, and to final defeat. Even the gifted and 
famous find the road of letters a hard one to travel. 
Scott said, “ Literature is a good staff, but a poor 
crutch.” They who make of it a crutch walk with un¬ 
certain step. 

Yet young aspirants, particularly young women, hun¬ 
dreds of them, confidently expect to take up novel- 
writing as a flowery industry, in which they are sure to 
reap a bountiful harvest. The truth is, no business is 
more uncertain, even for the successful. 

The conditions of success, briefly stated, are : first, 
the ability to write correct English, then to have a 
message others want to hear,—to possess the power of 
interesting them. Then, the novel-writer must have 
training. This is sometimes gained through a long 
period of discouragements and defeats which disheartens 
all but the faithful destined to receive their reward. 

The novel-writer, if she be natural, and not a mere 
imitator, may win, even if she has nothing new to say. 


160 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


“ Let the swallow twitter naturally, and he will always 
have friendly listeners,” said E. P. Roe, who was him¬ 
self a fine example of this fact. 

The world is always ready to pay well for the best 
article, whether it be a romance or a dinner. If the 
novel-writer gives the best that is in her, and then fails 
to receive appreciation, she can console herself with the 
knowledge that there are hundreds of other ways in 
which she can doubtless be very useful to the world. 

NEWSPAPER WORK. 

The ambitious young girl sees the newspapers glitter¬ 
ing with the names of women writers, and dreams of 
joining the brilliant throng. That is the career in 
which she is sure she can succeed, and perhaps she can, 
as success is often, measured. Yet, in all friendliness, 
we beg her to think twice before she adopts this pro¬ 
fession. It has different grades of workers; but none 
of its paths are easy, nor are its emoluments magnificent, 
excepting those which go to the proprietors. Envies, 
jealousies, and hatreds swarm where men and women 
dish up the gossip of the whole world. 

The first thing the young girl who wants to do news¬ 
paper work needs is a chance. Of course she may write 
something, and if it is timely, or newsy and bright in 
style, it may be accepted and paid for; but she will 
never be a full-fledged newspaper woman until she goes 
right into an office and works just as men do. Then 
she must not be contented with writing something and 
passing it over for some man editor to edit—that is to 
put appropriate headlines on it, and make it in every 
respect entirely ready for the printer’s hands. She must 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


161 


do that herself, or she is not a real newspaper woman, 
and cannot fill an editor’s position, no matter how much 
she plays at it. 

She must have health, good sense, a quick instinct 
for that which the public want to know about, and be 
able to tell it in the best and most captivating way. 
The art of expression is one she must cultivate always. 
It goes without saying that she must have an education, 
the broader the better, for it will come in her way to 
write of dozens of things she never thought of before. 
When she has to explain them to the public, she will 
learn that the same sources of information are open to 
her that are open to others, and she can inform herself. 

The pay will range all the way from ten to fifty 
dollars a week; but it will be a fortunate chain of cir¬ 
cumstances that will bring her the latter figure, no 
matter what her ability. Now and then women editors 
have received $3,000 a year; but that blissful period 
was preceded by years of hard work at much lower pay. 
The usual income of the capable newspaper woman 
fluctuates from $25 to $35 or $40 a week; and she has 
no time to plajq either. 

The alluring fibs which float through the newspapers 
about the overwhelmingly large salaries received by 
certain women writers are believed by those only who 
are outside the profession. The workers know better. 
These things are rarely contradicted, because human 
nature’s weakness is to assume to be of more value than 
it is, and friends consent to help along the delusion. 

There is no great fortune in newspaper work for 
women, or for men, either, unless they are owners of 
newspapers. It is a shade better than school-teaching, 
for there is work all the year around, unless you excite 
11 


162 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


somebody’s malice and lose your situation. A new one 
will be bard to find, no matter how capable you are, 
because the supply of workers in this field far exceeds 
the demand. 

NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION. 

An excellent chance for women who have talent for 
drawing figures and faces has been opened by the 
copious illustration which now prevails in the daily 
press. Every picture is drawn before it is engraved 
-—even the photographs—considerably larger than the 
printed illustration will be. Then it is engraved, 
by a rapid mechanical process, on metal. 

The newspaper artist receives very comfortable remu¬ 
neration for his services, particularly when he makes 
full-page pictures, and is an artist, not a mere draughts¬ 
man. The successful caricaturists are so few that money 
and fame are theirs without question. A few women 
have been so happy in the manipulation of the pencil 
as to have all they could do illustrating books and 
periodicals; but the number is small compared to the 
many who dabble in drawing. 

This is a branch of art which requires special train¬ 
ing; but if a woman possess talent for drawing, and 
her work shows individuality, the training is not difficult 
of attainment. The demand for this kind of work is 
greater every day, and will continue to be so until the 
public outgrows its childish fondness for having every¬ 
thing pictured out for it, leaving its own imagination 
completely at rest. The new processes of mechanical 
engraving have almost extinguished the wood-engraver. 
A few women were engaged formerly in that difficult 
profession, which requires from five to eight years 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. lfo 

practice to perfect them, and is ruinous to the eyes. As 
engravers, not designers, they did not earn, working in¬ 
dustriously, more than $25 a week. Now the news¬ 
paper artist can do better than that if she is quick as 
well as skillful in drawing. If she has humor and can 
give her pictures a dash of it, as occasion requires, she 
will make herself more valuable than if she was simply 
a faithful reproducer of photographs, which is the prin¬ 
cipal work of illustrators of the daily press. 

Every artist who illustrates books has his specialty. 
Some of this work done by women has for artistic excel¬ 
lence never been surpassed. 

ADVERTISING. 

This is a subject which should be of interest to all 
women of business intentions, because advertising, or 
letting the public know about what you have for it, 
is the very corner-stone of business success. The art of 
advertising is an exceedingly complex one, and must be 
studied by each proprietor for herself or himself. It is 
certain that no one can do business who does not let his 
business be known. The wider the circle enlightened 
the greater patronage he will receive. 

Then, to the woman seeking employment, the adver¬ 
tising business embraces much that is peculiarly her 
work. If she have the head for it she may operate an 
advertising agency and place advertisements for adver¬ 
tisers ; or she may assist in the clerical work of such a place 
— She may have charge of the advertising department of 
a periodical. To do this she needs unusually good busi¬ 
ness qualifications. Or she may find that she has great 
"skill in concocting attractive advertisements, and find 
her field of labor in simply writing them for merchants 


164 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


and manufacturers. Or she may take charge of the 
advertising of some great house or factory. 

The business of advertising has already reached ex¬ 
traordinary proportions, and is destined to still greater 
extension. Art, history, wit, literary skill, knowledge 
of human nature are all represented in this business. 
An editor says: 

“ In late years the writing of advertisements has become 
a special feature in journalism—a branch of literature 
requiring information, and calling for brightness and 
versatility. The man or woman who has a genius in that 
direction has a more profitable place in current literature 
than have many of those who see their articles in maga¬ 
zines or their names on the title-pages of current fiction. 
The wide-awake business man, who sees the great advan¬ 
tage of space in a newspaper’s columns has come to un¬ 
derstand the importance of having it filled with matter 
which will be sure to so attract the reader that he, and 
particularly she, will look for it every day and will ex¬ 
perience a feeling of disappointment if it is not found. 

“ In the years to come the writing of advertisements 
which will always attract attention will become more 
and more a literary employment, since the writer must 
not only be well-read, but must possess, in a high degree, 
the literary art of putting things. At the rate this 
branch of newspaper-making is being developed, the 
time is not far distant when it will be announced that 
this or that noted advertisement writer will contribute 
a special advertisement to a forthcoming issue, for the 
same reason that publishers of magazines now announce 
that the next number will contain a story by a famous 
novelist or a poem by a popular poet.” 

THE PUBLISHING BUSINESS. 

Of course if a woman becomes a successful publisher, 
she can gain plenty of money; but ordinarily it takes 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 165 

money and plenty of it, to operate this business. There 
are some very successful women publishers, both of 
periodicals and books, but I know only one who began 
with almost nothing, knowing nothing of the business 
when she began, and made a fortune out of it. This is 
Dr. Alice B. Stockham, of Chicago, author of Tokology. 
She wrote her book and determined to publish it her¬ 
self, selling it through agents. She opened an office, 
and went on till she had sold over two hundred thou¬ 
sand copies of the book. Now she publishes various 
other books, and does a business that brings a handsome 
income, and is so business-like in her methods, that her 
name has most honorable weight in all business circles 
where she is known. Doctor, author, lecturer and pub¬ 
lisher, she has succeeded in each profession to a remark¬ 
able extent, and is a fine example of what a woman can 
do when she puts herself earnestly into her work. 

BOOK AGENTS. 

“ You want to know all about my business,” said the 
woman canvasser. “ Well, to begin with, it is an in¬ 
dependent calling, in which I am absolutely my own 
master and subject to no one’s orders; and that is a 
great consideration. It is equal to being in business for 
oneself, without half the trouble of having a regular 
place of business. I have no rent to pay—I mean busi¬ 
ness rent—for I carry my goods right to my patrons’ 
doors, both for inspection and delivery. 

“ Then, it is no beggar’s trade, either, for I make 
money. The first year I canvassed I made a thousand 
dollars; the next §1,800. Since then I have averaged 
82,000 a year, and have been at work six years in all. 
I have bought and paid for a home in that time ; and 


166 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


that is better than most women can do, no matter what 
their occupation is. Yes, I know I get on better than 
many canvassers ; but I half fancy that is not because I 
have any more talent for it than others ; but because I 
stick right to the work, and study its points all the 
time. I don’t follow any other person’s method, either. 
I have my own, and it succeeds. 

“ I am careful never to sell a book that I do not con¬ 
sider valuable. I have to be in earnest when I talk it up. 
By making that a rule, I can go right over old ground 
when I take up a new book, and am actually welcomed 
by most of my old subscribers. Right here in this town, 
where I have lived all that time, everybody knows me, 
and nobody shuts the door in my face. I encounter 
rudeness sometimes, but not as often as you might sup¬ 
pose. Brutality to agents of any class is not common 
among decent people. Only the ignorant are guilty of 
it,—ignorant in the sense of not being enlightened on 
points of refinement, I mean. 

“ Many canvassers don’t like to carry books in which 
women only are interested, but prefer to work exclu¬ 
sively among men. My own experience is just the con¬ 
trary. I get on capitally with women, and can-interest 
them every time. The trouble with going among them 
is that they are often so terribly stinted in money. 
Some dare not buy a paper of pins, without first con¬ 
sulting their husbands. I get over that, however, by 
going as much as I can among those who earn their own 
money. They are always ready to buy a book which 
has some special message for women, if they read at all, 
and usually feel that they owe the woman canvasser 
their patronage, as a bit of business reciprocity, which 
will not be thrown away. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


167 


“ I send around index sheets of my books for people 
to study, and I usually find, when I call, that they are 
anxious to see the book, and frequently anxious to 
possess it. I don’t believe I bore them by talking about 
it; I really try to say something interesting, and I never 
allow myself to think of failure for a moment. The 
first person I had to win over was myself. I had to get 
a subscriber in my mind, understand, before I got her 
on paper. That accomplished, all the rest was compar¬ 
atively easy. 

“ I managed to convey, by my manner rather than by 
words, that I had something she ought to have, and I 
took care not to seem in a hurry about it. I have made 
quite a number of friends who take a warm interest in 
me, and when I have a new book, they help talk it up 
among their friends. I go clear out to the country 
sometimes, and have done very well there. Some 
of the places where I have been several times, they 
make me welcome, urge me to stay several days, and 
drum up subscribers for me. 

“ On the whole, I believe that canvassing has about 
as much in its favor as any other business, and now that 
I understand it, I like it, and intend to stick to it.” 


168 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


XX. 

WHERE THERE IS ROOM FOR MORE. 

IN THE PULPIT. 

Women have been permitted to be “ ministering 
angels” wherever there was sickness and work to do 
that needed their skill, sympathy and courage, but the 
world has been very slow to let them minister from the 
pulpit to its spiritual wants. The Quakers are the 
only religious sect who never drew any sex lines. 
Their women spoke when the spirit moved them the 
.same as did men, and were listened to with respect and 
admiration. Some of them made fame as preachers. 
Other churches, however, for years refused to ordain 
women as ministers of the gospel. 

It is stated that the Congregational Church ordained 
a woman minister in 1858. The Universalists were the 
first to admit women to their theological schools. They 
ordained their first woman preacher, Reverend Olympia 
Brown, in 1868. Since 1870 the Unitarian Church has 
welcomed women and pays them as well as it pays its 
men preachers. In the Methodist Church a few have 
held pastorates, and isolated cases of women preachers 
are found among the Baptists. The experimental stage 
of the work, however, is past. It has been made clear 
that women do make good preachers and pastors. 

The meager appreciation given them by churches has 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


169 


not kept them from being preachers, however. Modern 
unorganized religious philosophy has found in them its 
ablest expounders. Their success in arousing interest in 
new schools of thought has been amazing. With next 
to no training as orators they came to the front by 
hundreds and did an almost miraculous work. They had 
only their intense convictions and deep earnestness to 
carry them through, yet many of them have become 
famous. They meant every word they said, and said it 
in a way that showed they meant it. The result was 
it carried conviction. They have the earnestness—the 
power of expressing themselves earnestly—without 
which no orator can succeed. 

There is nothing perfunctory in their preaching ; in¬ 
stinctively they follow the old preacher’s advice to the 
timid young one : “ Speak as though it was the last 
time you Avere to preach salvation to dying men, and 
the last chance of salvation they were to have.” 

The Pall Mall Gazette asks why should the pulpit be 
closed to women, since they have made their way into 
all other professions ? No one can deny that they are 
excellent public speakers, and the amount of good which 
might result from their official appointment as preachers 
and pastors can hardly be gauged. Their devotion to 
religious w r ork is naturally greater than that of men, 
and even now, while they are only permitted to wait, as 
it were, in the outer court, the amount of religious work 
done by them is quite astounding. 

The first woman preacher ordained by the Uni versa- 
lists says of this vocation : “ No profession is better 
suited to the peculiar characteristics of woman, or more 
consistent with her special duties. In the future the 
pulpits will be occupied very largely by women. The 


170 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


proportion of men to women will be no larger, probably 
not so large, as at present, in teaching. Preaching is a 
larger kind of teaching. The same causes that now give 
four-fifths of all the teaching to women will some time 
give nine-tenths of all the preaching to them.” 

If the pulpits are not opened to them, that need not 
prevent their having hearers. This is the day of 
independent work in all directions. The woman who 
has a genius for public speaking and a spiritual message 
to give the world may begin anywhere, without the 
sanction or aid of ecclesiastical organizations. If she is 
aflame with convictions and has the art of imparting 
them earnestly to others, she can gather about her a 
strong following wherever her language is spoken; she 
can build her own church ; she can make her own 
rulings. There is always rough ground to be broken in 
the minds of the multitude as well as on the earth’s 
surface. Though the world has been preached to ever 
since the invention of language it is still hungry for 
religious truth, still longs for some message that shall 
satisfy its yearning soul. 

Professor Drummond says : “ The amount of spiritual 
longing in the world—in the hearts of unnumbered 
thousands of men and women in whom we should never 
suspect it; among the wise and thoughtful; among the 
young and gay, who seldom assuage and never betray 
their thirst—this is one of the most wonderful and 
touching facts of life.” 

This being a fact, there is always work for the 
woman preacher. If she sees a light to guide the spirit, 
and can make others see it, the world is hers to work 
in, without regard to the sanction of synods and 
bishops. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 171 

As orators, whether religions or educational, women 
have great things to do in the coming years. The 
accomplishment of public speaking is one they should 
acquire, if possible, no matter what their vocation may 
be. It will be needed more and more as the religious 
and intellectual life of society expands. 

KINDERGARTEN WORK. 

This noble occupation, though the invention of a 
man, is almost entirely in the hands of women. It is a 
branch of education, the most important, perhaps, in the 
whole range of learning. The kindergarten is the most 
admirable nursery which the world has ever known from 
which the human plant will come. It sows the seed of 
noble thoughts in a virgin mental soil. The plastic 
mind receives impressions which guide it through all its 
future existence. 

The proficient kindergartener has a capital in her 
head which can be invested wherever there are little 
people, and will bring her a quick and bountiful return. 
This is, perhaps, the only field of teaching not overrun. 
There is room for many hundreds, yes, thousands more 
trained teachers. Kindergartens are needed in hun¬ 
dreds of places which now have none. The harvest is 
abundant, but the laborers are few. 

That kindergartening is the best hope for the future 
of the whole world, no one who understands its methods 
doubts. It is the beginning of real university work. Its 
extension will, by the right training of the infant mind, 
make a new world for us to dwell in. Its method is not 
the old, lamentable, memory-loading one. It teaches the 
child to think for himself, to see causes and deduce con¬ 
clusions. It develops, instead of burdening, his mind, and 


172 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 

builds for him a foundation of character that will nobly 
sustain the structure of his life, which he will build 
aright because of its good foundation. 

There is room not only for any number of kindergar¬ 
tens, but for many more training schools for kindergar¬ 
ten teachers. Of all professions this has the greatest 
future, the widest growth before it. 

An eminent educator, Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper, of San 
Francisco, famous in kindergarten work, says: “ I be¬ 
lieve every mother should be a true kindergartener. 
That wouid mean an uplifting and bettering of the 
race. Every young woman should likewise be a kin¬ 
dergartener. The world needs what has been beautifully 
characterized as the universal motherhood—that sort of 
motherhood which feels a personal responsibility for 
universal childhood; that sort of motherhood which 
feels that every child has a claim upon her love and 
tenderness.” 

THE LAW. 

The legal profession attracts but few women, for the 
same reason that comparatively few men enter it. 
Courage, patience and some means of support are needed 
for years by the lawyer whose clients are all in the 
future. Besides, it is the most difficult of all profes¬ 
sions in which to make fame or achieve excellence. 
Even the degree of mediocrity is not won without 
greater effort than many men or women care to make. 

One of the few women lawyers answered the follow¬ 
ing questions: 

What need is there for women in the legal profession ? 

I do not see any especial need or public demand. 

Is the profession a desirable one for women? 

It is not an undesirable one. It is merely a question 
of individual taste. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


173 


Is it practicable ? 

Yes,—particularly in the west. 

What difficulties must be overcome ? 

All the difficulties which naturally arise from cast- 
iron prejudice against it. Men are far more ready than 
women to encourage it. Women are timid and alarmed. 
Even if they encourage a woman lawyer theoretically, 
they will take their business—with rare exceptions—to 
a man. 

What objections are to be met ? 

The old objections theoretically. Practically the 
chief obstacle is indifference on the part of those from 
whom help would be naturally expected. 

What natural and acquired qualifications insure suc¬ 
cess ? 

A logical mind; careful and rapid habits of thought 
and action; above all, an inextinguishable fund of 
patience and of self-confidence. 

What expense of time and money is necessary before 
entering the work ? 

No less than three full years of study in school or 
office; though some law-schools graduate in less time, 
and some states admit to the bar on less study. The 
school fees are small; about $300 for the entire course in 
Boston University Law School, I believe, and perhaps 
|100 for books. If the student studies in an office, this 
expense is all avoided. It is by far best to combine 
school and office-training. The only other expense is 
that of living. There must also be some means of liv¬ 
ing during the very indefinitely long period of 44 waiting 
for practice.” 

In what departments will woman find the best foot¬ 
hold? 


174 


WOMEN IN TUE BUSINESS WORLD. 


This is entirely a question of personal taste and ca¬ 
pacity, just as it is with men —also of opportunity. A 
young lawyer can seldom choose a specialty. She (as 
he) must do what she can get to do, for a long time, 
and the broader her abilities, the greater her success. 
Those who can—who have courage and self-confidence 
sufficient—should go into court, and force the public to 
acknowledge their powers, for the public judges of a 
lawyer chiefly by his court-work. 

What success may she hope for compared w T ith what 
a man of the same caliber and enterprise may attain ? 

I am not yet able to judge of this. Time must show. 
It is still a very new profession for women. 

What opportunities of advancement are before her ? 

Only time can tell. I am personally inclined to be 
sanguine as to the possibilities. It is an experiment 
quite in keeping with the general tendency of modern 
thought, especially in the newer and more liberal parts 
of our country. 

What progress in public sentiment do you mark ? 

It seems to me to be stagnant—dead—in the east. 
Possibly when a few women lawyers have starved to 
death here, it may wake up. But none seem inclined to 
thus sacrifice themselves. I could not conscientiously 
advise a woman to begin the study of law with a view 
to practice, unless she has money enough to live on com¬ 
fortably six or eight years, and knows how to possess her 
soul in patience ; or unless she has the practical friend¬ 
ship of some lawyer in active practice who both can and 
will push her interests. In the latter case, east or west 
will serve her purpose. In the former, her best chances 
are west, and the further the better. I made a careful 
study of the entire country between Duluth and Seattle 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


175 


on my way west, spending six weeks on the road, and 
the above is my conclusion. California is a good field. 
So is Oregon and Washington Territory. 

Do you think that the legal profession will eventually 
he as freely entered by women as the medical profession 
bids fair to be ? 

I should think not. There is a distinct demand for 
women as physicians to women, and it is said that 
women have the instinct of nursing and caring for the 
sick. There is no such distinct demand for women as 
lawyers to women, nor has woman generally the logical 
instinct—the fighting instinct. There will be com¬ 
paratively few women lawyers eventually, I think, but 
they will be remarkably good ones, for only such will 
attempt it. 

PRACTICAL LECTURES. 

The demand for woman lecturers on questions of 
practical value is steadily increasing. Any woman who 
knows how to do something unusually well, cannot only 
get a hearing, but will be in great request, if she can 
give lectures which show other women how to do the 
same thing. This is a feature of modern education that 
promises to make industrial experts of the whole world. 
So valuable is the practical lecture, where theory is 
demonstrated by object-lesson illustrations, that in¬ 
dustrial institutes and societies of many orders are con¬ 
stantly on the watch for women who can do the lectur 
ing. Every art and handicraft needs some woman to 
set forth its benefits and processes. Everything, from 
crochet work and cooking, to the highest arts and sciences, 
is open to the practical lecturer. The object lesson is 
the great factor in education. The kindergarten of the 
world is open for the big children as well as the little. 


176 


WOMEN IN THE B US1NESS WORLD. 


In England women lecturers on subjects of practical 
value are constantly asked for through the press; and 
many are in training to supply the demand. 

The benefits the public receives from this method 
of desseminating knowledge are not to be estimated. 
Through them industrial incompetency will be made 
contemptible, and efficiency indispensable, thus improv¬ 
ing the morality of the race by making everybody more 
comfortable. Without doubt cooking schools are des¬ 
tined to do wonders in the way of raising the moral 
tone of society. Good digestion makes good temper 
and inclines the heart away from vice. 

If you can give a practical lecture, don’t wait to be 
entreated to do so. Stir around among your friends, 
collect a parlor audience and begin. Push the work, 
and if you can entertain and instruct, you will soon 
have calls from new quarters. 

If you have something to teach that nobody else has 
taught, no matter. You can have listeners and pupils 
if you set about it. People are always ready to learn 
new things. So are they ready to learn new and better 
ways of doing old ones. Make yourself competent and 
go on persistently. You are sure of a following. 

“ Get tliy spindle and thy distaff ready 
And God will send thee flax.” 

PIONEER LECTURERS. 

It has been proposed by educators that college women 
should become pioneer lecturers, preparing the way for 
university extension lectures. It is said they have more 
aptitude than have men for entering into the difficulties 
of beginners. Without doubt women have often a 
wonderful faculty for making study attractive and easy. 


WOMEN IN T1IE BUSINESS WORLD. 


177 


This calling is almost without limits, other than the 
tastes of the lecturers. Every year opportunities will 
be more numerous, and requirements greater. 

In the art of public speaking all women should educate 
themselves. It should be as easy for a woman to rise 
and speak interestingly and gracefully before five hun¬ 
dred or two thousand people as before six or eight 
in her parlor. The objective lecture gives a capital 
opportunity for practice in this charming accomplish¬ 
ment. The lecturer may, solely for want of practice, 
be diffident and ill-at-ease. She has it in her, but needs 
to develop self-confidence. Let her begin in her own 
or a friend’s house, before a small audience made up of 
the most cultivated minds possible to gather together. 
They are the least critical, because they understand 
better the difficulties. Also what criticisms they consent 
to make will be of value. It is the ignorant, remember, 
who are hardest to please, because they know not what 
excellence is. 

It is best for all who intend to make public speaking 
or teaching their profession to train themselves to speak 
without manuscript. Sermons orlectures read at people 
are less effective than when poured into the ears and 
minds of the hearers direct from the brain that con¬ 
structed them. No one tied to a bundle of paper when 
before an audience is master of the situation. 

After a little practice the lecturer will find that, hav¬ 
ing her ideas well formed, she can talk with greater 
confidence and clearness, depending for expression on 
the inspiration of the moment. 

Women’s clubs have been and will continue to be 
great educators in the art of public speaking. Many an 
orator never dreamed of her power until in the line of 
12 


178 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


duty at her literary club she found herself on her feet 
and expected to say something. Celia Burleigh, one of 
the most celebrated and eloquent of women preachers 
of this country, owed all her celebrity to being forced 
to speak one day at Sorosis, the oldest woman’s club in 
existence. 

Practice is as necessary to the orator as to the shoe¬ 
maker. 

The Local Lecture Syndicate of Cambridge, England, 
has decided that women shall be eligible for appoint¬ 
ment as extension lecturers. 

Every new invention or custom makes new indus¬ 
tries. The bicycle is no exception to this rule. It 
opens a way to new activities in the world of business 
as well as in the world of pleasure, and in these women 
may have whatever share they choose to take. They 
can lecture on the benefits of wheeling, teach the proper 
manipulation of the wheel, sell wheels, invent and make 
clothes for wheel-men and wheel-women, and do what¬ 
ever is called for by the extension of wheeling. As 
women buy and ride wheels made especially for them, 
women who can talk convincingly and ride a wheel grace¬ 
fully can make a fortune selling wheels and giving prac¬ 
tical lectures on wheeling. There is room for hundreds 
of them. 

MUSICIANS. 

Operas, Cantatas, Operettas and Oratorios have been 
written by women, though comparatively few have 
distinguished themselves as musical composers. As 
singers and performers on musical instruments they 
are not behind men. 

In this realm of high art they receive equal or even 
greater pecuniary reward than do men, because they do 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


179 


that which men cannot do, and which is indispensable. 
If an opera could be given without women singers, 
doubtless they would have had as much difficulty get¬ 
ting recognition in the musical drama as they have had 
in the simpler industries. Happily they are essential 
to the manager’s success, and can name their own com¬ 
pensation. They fill a field distinctly their own, and 
do not come into competition with male artists. 

Truly, at the top, in all departments of effort, this 
competition ceases, and there is no question of woman 
receiving less than man for her performance. It is then 
a matter of the true value of her work. She who paints 
a picture, writes a book, play or opera, chisels a statue, 
invents a machine, manufactures a bicycle, or stars in 
opera or drama is never insulted by being offered lower 
pay than a man would receive under the same circum¬ 
stances. Her work commands whatever it is worth. 
Genius is sexless, and its achievements have no grade of 
superiority or inferiority because of sex. 

Until the present age woman has never enjoyed the 
appreciative mental air, necessary to the best develop¬ 
ment of poet, artist and musician. She has suffered in 
her achievements from previous limitations, but the end 
of lier martyrdom of repression is at hand. 


180 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


XXI. 

SOME NEW AND OLD OCCUPATIONS. 

EDUCATORS OF THE NEGLECTED. 

For want of a better name this is used to describe 
those who give lessons in rudimentary branches to per¬ 
sons whose education in early years has been neglected. 
Writing letters for the illiterate or for foreigners unac¬ 
quainted with our language is a part of the business. 
In large cities it is usually carried on by persons whose 
chief source of income is something else, and who make 
this supplementary. Lessons in reading and writing 
cost from 25 cents to a dollar a lesson, according to the 
locality where the lessons are given and the class of 
pupils taught. 

As learners are usually very sensitive on the subject 
of their ignorance, their names are not disclosed. In 
cities it is very easy for them to take a course of such 
instruction and their own family and friends never hear 
of it. This work goes on so inconspicuously, that, were 
it not for an occasional card in the newspapers stating 
where such lessons are given, one would never know of 
it. Women are usually the teachers. Somehow the 
grown-up school-boys and girls have less shame in 
admitting their lack of learning to them than to men. 
Perhaps they feel surer of the sympathy of women than 
of men. 


WOMEN IN TEE BUSINESS WORLD. 


181 


This work might be done in the towns as well as in 
cities, if the teacher exerted herself to make it known 
that she would give lessons, and was discreet enough 
not to talk to her friends about her pupils. 

WOMEN AS EXPEETS. 

Since the administration of President Buchanan 
women have been employed as clerks in the govern¬ 
mental departments at Washington. Some are experts 
in detecting counterfeits and restoring mutilated cur¬ 
rency. They have what is called, in the vernacular of 
the Treasury, the gift of “ counterfeit sight.” It is 
said that while a man can tell a counterfeit four times 
out of ten, a woman will tell one in ten cases out of 
twelve. 


INVENTION. 

Although women have not figured to the extent men 
have as inventors, nevertheless they have given evi¬ 
dence that they are not without inventive genius. 
The first patent of invention taken out in Paris, which 
was in 1823, was by a woman Madame Dutillet, for 
the formation of artificial marble. An Englishwoman 
began, in 1840, the work of inventing an indestructi¬ 
ble artificial marble, and labored for five years, during 
which time she made more than ten thousand experi¬ 
ments, which at last resulted successfully. No other 
example could better prove that woman possesses the 
power of persistent application. One woman of this 
country has invented a carriage telephone, a folding 
flat iron, a musical top, musical fountain, the eyeless 
needle, and several other things now used by surgeons, 

The intuitive faculty so universally conceded to 


182 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


women is yet likely to give them prominence in this 
field, for all inventions come out of the ideal. Already 
they have a respectable representation in our patent 
annals ; but there is no record of the number of sugges¬ 
tions they have m^de to men who developed the same 
into patents. The limitless kingdom of the ideal which 
contains all that ever was or shall be made real is open 
to them. 

In all savage countries women are the house-builders, 
clothiers, weavers, potters, tanners, harvesters and deco¬ 
rators. The great modern industries had their begin¬ 
ning in the mind of savage women, who of necessity 
invented the tools and materials which enabled them to 
supply the needs of their people. 

BANKING. 

Women are clerks, cashiers and bookkeepers in banks, 
and some are even bank presidents. The necessary 
qualifications for the work are, health, good character, 
fair education, clear penmanship, including plain figures, 
facility in reckoning accounts and computing interest, 
and general correctness. 

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING. 

Electrical engineering is a profession women of ability 
as well as men could pursue. The time necessary for 
preparation in it is no longer than is needed in any other 
profession. Of course a leaning in the direction of 
electrical science is essential. It has rich rewards for 
the woman who has genius for it, because its possibili¬ 
ties are so vast, and so far are comparatively unknown. 
A young Englishwoman who acquired an “ above-the- 
senior-wrangler ” fame, has adopted this profession, and 
intends to put herself into it unreservedly. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


183 


Edison prefers women machinists for the delicate de¬ 
tails of electrical machines. He says they have more 
fine sense about machinery in one minute than most 
men have in their whole existence. 

SIMPLE PRINCIPLES PUT IN PRACTICE. 

A woman coal-dealer in Tennessee oversees her own 
mines and has made both fame and fortune as a busi¬ 
ness woman. She bought a large tract of land from a 
man who urged her to buy it because he was in great 
need of money. After coming into possession of it she 
discovered that it was full of coal and other minerals. 
When asked if she enjoyed her mountain life she said: 

“ Men are the most peculiar individuals. They seem 
to think all valuable rights of property and sentiment 
are reserved for them. Do you suppose that because I 
have long hair and wear skirts, I can’t feel a glow of 
satisfaction in traveling a whole day over my own pos¬ 
sessions ? 

“ Business is not an intricate thing by any means. 
The principles are simple enough. I hate a lie and 
love fair dealing. When I first began operations at 
the mine the wiseacres down there were full of advice. 
It had been customary to pay day-laborers at the rate 
of 25 cents, and the pay came in the shape of bacon at 
25 cents a pound. This was all nonsense. I gave my 
men a dollar a day. This was supposed to be fatal, and 
I was sagely informed that it would lead to demoraliza¬ 
tion and that I wouldn’t have a single hand left in a 
w T eek. In order to offset possibilities, I established the 
rule of cold water to drink, and from that day to this I 
have lost but one hand, and I am working sixty.” 

PACKING TRUNKS. 

In Paris the packing of trunks or traveling boxes, as 
the English call them, is a regular business pursued al- 


184 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


most exclusively by women. You leave your order at 
the office of the transportation company, and say when 
you want the professional packer. She comes and is 
paid fifty cents and sometimes a dollar an hour for her 
services. She has genius in folding dresses so they can 
be carried all over the world without a wrinkle. She 
wraps bonnets deftly in tissue paper. She tucks in 
bric-a-brac in a way that makes breakage improbable, if 
not impossible, and in every particular is an artist in 
her work. When the boxes are all packed, the owner 
knows that the packing has been done scientifically. 

This industry might be introduced here in large cities. 
If not appreciated sufficiently for a regular business, it 
might be made a side issue. 

COSTUMING-. 

This is a business in which women ought to shine; 
but which is mostly taken hold of by men. Now and 
then some woman of society with a talent for it, designs 
costumes for a play ; but few have ever made costuming 
a profession. Yet there is great scope in it, also money 
and a chance to improve the artistic taste of the public 
in dress. 

The costumer’s work is not done when she has ar¬ 
ranged costumes for the people of the stage and the 
characters of a bal masque. She has it in her power to 
be a great teacher. If she have anything new to offer 
clothes-crippled womankind it will flock to hear and see 
her and is ready to pay her well. The strong tendency 
of the times to depart from the merely modish form of 
dress, which is always a thing of a day, ordered on and 
off at the will of tradesmen, is a call to some woman to 
begin the work of educating us in artistic dressing. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


185 


Dress-reformers have come to the front and had a 
hearing, but so far they have not offered anything in 
the nature of a system that could be adopted, nor have 
they inculcated true artistic principles. They generally 
found their level offering sops to the prevailing mode, 
and talking twaddle about art. 

The woman-Moses who is to lead her sex out of the 
bondage of the foolish fetich Fashion has not yet sounded 
a call, though her people are ready to be led. 

A costumer, ingenious in her profession, would be 
consulted by many of the rich, and also those who are 
neither rich nor poor, on the matter of personal wardrobe, 

MANICURE. 

This Parisian art of the toilet is comparatively new in 
America; but has been profitably pursued by women, 
since it made its appearance, and is an educator we all 
owe ourselves in the nice .care of the body. 

Undoubtedly there is room for many more manicures, 
and but little capital is needed to begin. In the parlors 
where this work is done cosmetics are usually sold, so 
that an income from several sources may be had. 

HAIR-CUTTING AND HAIR-DRESSING 

May also be added. For some reason very few 
women are good hair-cutters, though what reason there is 
for this no one can tell. That this vocation is a money¬ 
making one none disputes. In cities the shops that are 
popular have hundreds of heads to shear daily. The 
woman hair-cutter’s customers are women and children ex¬ 
clusively, though occasionally a woman has been a success¬ 
ful barber, shaving and cutting the hair of men, and 
doing it well. Expert hair-dressers always have their 


186 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


hands full. So do the wig-makers, who are usually 
women, though they are seldom the wig-wearers. The 
skill employed in this work commands good pay. In¬ 
efficiency or carelessness is not tolerated here. The 
greatest nicety of touch and exactness is required. 
The wig-maker must give her mind and hands devotedly 
to her work. It is a business, too, in which, when she 
has had a reasonable experience, she may, without great 
outlay of capital, become a proprietor. 

In hair-work competent girls can earn fair wages from 
the day they begin. Cutting and dressing hair on living 
heads brings from $5 to $18 a week, according to the 
skill and industry of the operator. One proprietor of a 
hair-cutting and dressing and wig-making establishment 
in New York has employed as many as 140 women, and 
paid $700 weekly in wages. In wig-making and switch¬ 
making a woman can earn from $8 to $10 a week. 

She needs for this work, good eyesight, expert hands 
and the power of steady application. 

Hair jewelry is another industry conducted by 
women. 

INVENTING A BUSINESS. 

She was a teacher in the public schools of a great 
city, but she determined to make herself independent 
of school boards, and concluded that the way to do it 
was to build up a business. “ I shall undertake to do 
something no one else has ever done. I shall be first 
in the field, and until I become successful I shall have 
no rivals,” she said. 

This was wise reasoning, as events prove. She set 
about the study of the hair,—how to keep it in a healthy 
condition, prevent its falling out or becoming dead. 
She read, made microscopic examinations, interviewed 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


187 


doctors and hair-dressers until she evolved a system of 
treatment entirely her own, which was not dependent 
upon any nostrum warranted to do wonders. 

The first year did not begin to pay the expenses of 
the advertising. Rent w T as not extra, for she lived in a 
flat and used it for her business headquarters, although 
it was far up-town. Still she was not discouraged, and 
persisted, firm in the faith that what money she put out 
would come hack to her. 44 1 can treat hair in a way 
that will benefit it,” she said, 44 so I know I shall win 
eventually, though it will take time.” 

The second year she made expenses and something 
over. Meantime she kept on with her school, having 
her salary to live on. The third year she made nineteen 
hundred dollars clear. This she used to enlarge her 
business, moving down-town to more expensive quarters 
in the “swim” of trade, and hiring a trustworthy 
woman, whom she taught to take charge of the place 
and give the treatments in her absence. The fourth 
year she laid by two thousand dollars, and the fifth year 
saw her independent of school boards. From time to 
time she added new preparations of her own invention 
for the toilet, being particular that all of them were 
innocent of anything harmful. 

Her success was owing to true business instincts, 
persistence, and faithful performance of all she pro¬ 
fessed to do. 

AN ORIGINAL COUGH-CURE. 

One New York woman made a fairly good living by a 
most novel means. She advertised to cure coughs with¬ 
out using medicine. In addition to putting her card in 
the newspapers, she sent small, attractively-worded cir¬ 
culars to men whose professions involved public speaking. 


188 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 

Out of curiosity some of them called to inquire about 
her method of cure. It was original to the point of ab¬ 
surdity, but it interested them enough to cause them to 
try it. What was it ? Merely to resist the inclination 
to cough or scour the throat, and this she proposed to 
teach them to do. Organizing them into classes, she 
stood them up before her and made them read, speak 
and even sing without yielding to the temptation to 
cough. By repeating at regular intervals, in classes, 
the exercises she gave them, they succeeded in over¬ 
coming all desire to cough or “ hack ” their throats, and 
some even learned a little about music. 

The principle upon which the cure is founded is true. 
The more one yields to the inclination to cough, the more 
one is obliged to yield. The bronchial tubes and nerves 
become irritated, and coughing and throat-scouring in¬ 
evitable. Ministers, lawyers, politicians and teachers 
put themselves under the ministrations of the woman 
cough-doctor, and went through their exercises in class 
“ like little men,” and paid well for it, too, and were 
cured. It was a discipline in self-control. She taught 
them to master their throats, and they did. 

BEATJTIFIEKS. 

The professional beautifier is usually a woman. She 
undertakes to remove all facial blemishes, wrinkles in¬ 
cluded. She gives practical lectures on how to be beau¬ 
tiful, and furnishes the example of beauty herself. Her 
pupils are numbered by hundreds, her dollars by thou¬ 
sands. The realm of the toilet is her kingdom, and 
royally she reigns. Of all lecturers on practical sub¬ 
jects, she has the largest constituency—one that con¬ 
tinually increases. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


189 


JEWELERS. 

In all England there is but one woman who designs 
and manufactures jewels. In this country none have 
achieved eminence in this pursuit, so well adapted to 
woman’s taste and daintiness of touch. The Arch¬ 
duchess Maria Theresa, of Austria, has a passion for 
manufacturing jewels, and labors under the instruction 
of a practical jeweler. 

BOX-MAKING. 

With her own hands a woman made the first orange- 
box used in California. Seeing that it was good, and 
that there was a demand for thousands of others like it, 
she succeeded in building and operating a factory which 
produces 50,000 boxes a year. She had the foresight to 
see the demand and the wisdom to set about supplying 
it. In this kind of thing men are quicker than women, 
because a part of their training has been to look out for 
opportunities. When they see a good one they don’t 
let it go by because they have no money to begin with, 
either. If they have good business-sense, they stir 
around and raise the money somehow, or get credit, and 
go ahead. They take risks, which everybody who ac¬ 
complishes anything has to do. Women are over¬ 
cautious, usually, because they are not familiar with this 
branch of business education. 

The making of paper boxes is a business engaged in 
by hundreds of women all over the country, but usually 
as employes, and not proprietors. 

LITTLE THINGS TO DO. 

Distributing circulars on a large scale is a work 
usually performed by men, but whmh could be done as 


190 


WOMEN IN THE B USINESS WORLD. 


well by women. The distributor has an office and agents 
throughout the territory he undertakes to cover, and 
distributes at the rate of $3 per 1,000 circulars. He 
keeps a card in the newspapers. 

Making buttonholes and sewing on buttons is a 
specialty in which women sometimes make very com¬ 
fortable incomes. The professional buttonholer needs 
only to do her work well, and a location near some good 
tailoring and dressmaking establishments. After secur¬ 
ing work from these, she must keep a sign out on her 
house or office, and, if possible, a card in the newspapers, 
because stray patrons from other sources will drop in if 
they know where to find her. In that way she is build¬ 
ing up a business for herself independently of the favor 
of the great shops, so that any disagreement with them 
need not result disastrously for her. It is a good rule 
in business of all kinds “ not to put all the eggs in one 
basket.” If she attracts more work than she can do, she 
can hire it done, and so help somebody else to employ¬ 
ment and enlarge her business. Doubtless she has 
friends or neighbors whom she can train to be ready to 
assist her in emergencies. This very training may prove 
an important step in opening their way to financial in¬ 
dependence. All women should learn whatever they 
have an opportunity of learning. The more efficient 
they are in many directions, the better developed are 
they, the more useful and important. 

MAKING ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS. 

This work is almost entirely performed by women, 
though in this country they are not often proprietary 
manufacturers. In Paris they frequently are. As 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 191 

employees they have a limited field in flower-making, 
only the experts and specialists receiving anything like 
comfortable pay. 

FEATHER CURLING. 

The curling of ostrich feathers and mounting of 
birds used in millinery work is done entirely by women. 

MAKING RUBBER SHOES. 

This work is frequently done by girls. A short 
apprenticeship is necessary. 

MAKING NECK-SCARFS. 

All the work involved in the tremendous business 
of manufacturing neck-scarfs for men is done by women. 
The pay is very meager, but, as much of the work can 
be done at home, many women in great cities are glad 
to get it. This is most profitable business for the 
manufacturer. 

GIVING LESSONS ON SEWING MACHINES. 

In this work the woman who thoroughly understands 
the machine and has a faculty for imparting her knowl¬ 
edge, is pretty sure of employment that pays moderately. 
If she can sell machines as well as teach others how to 
operate them, her income is limited only by her energy. 
If she is something of a linguist, and can speak Ger¬ 
man as well as English, her field will be wider, and her 
remuneration higher. Above all things she must be 
agreeable in speech and manner. 

EXPRESS MESSENGER. 

Why do not more women invest money in local ex¬ 
press service? A comparatively small capital will do 


192 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


to begin with, and business in any active place is a cer¬ 
tainty. Any woman of even limited business sense 
could sit in an office and manage the business. One 
woman of Boston tried it four years ago, beginning in 
a modest way. Now she has three offices and five 
teams in constant use. 

OPERATING STAGE-LINES. 

Women have done this successfully even where it 
was difficult to do, in new and wild countries, and they 
were often their own driver. Some have grown rich at 
it. I know a young woman whose skill in managing 
horses led her to establish a stage-line between a village 
that has no railroad and one that has. She does her 
own driving, has a sprightly team and handsome carriage, 
and carries passengers at twenty-five cents apiece. She 
takes care of her horses herself, and in every respect is 
master of the situation. She executes commissions for 
a small percentage, and is laying up money. 

IN DOLLDOM. 

A young woman in Central New York has the sole 
right to manufacture paper dolls to be dressed in paper 
clothes. Beginning in a small way in her father’s house, 
her business has grown until she employs thirty women 
as assistants. 

She saw she had an article that would please, and 
worked up the demand for it by putting it on the 
market after getting it patented, “ just as a man would 
have done,” as one of her friends said. It is that 
faculty of seeing a chance to operate in a new field, 
“ just as a man would,” in which women need to train 
themselves. After they see a chance they should make 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


193 


haste to begin operations, otherwise somebody else will 
take hold of it, no matter how secret it seems to be. 
Those things are in the air, and cannot be kept concealed. 

DRESSING DOLLS. 

Jenn} r Wren, the famous doll’s dressmaker of Dickens, 
has a few imitators in the great cities; but seldom in 
the towns and villages. Yet Jenny could surely do 
well at certain seasons anywhere if she has skill in her 
profession. The appareling of dolls has become a really 
weighty care on the mother of a household of little 
folks, who, in most cases, would gladly pay Miss Jenny 
for taking the arduous duty off her hands. Besides it is 
a work requiring a peculiar fitness. Not all who can 
make children’s clothes nicely can array dolls effectively. 
A dressmaker for the inanimate people of dolldom should 
be a specialist. She must know how to adapt modes to 
the queer saw-dust bodies of her world, and produce 
dazzling effects,—in short she must be an artist. 

If Jenny would train herself in this art, and “let 
her intentions be known,” in almost any prosperous 
community she could earn a good many dollars, if not 
an independent income. 

PRESSING DRESSES. 

A new field of enterprise for women of small capital 
and good business sense is a dress-pressing establishment. 
So far New York is the only city that has one, but 
there is no reason why every village should not be 
similarly supplied. A pair of pressing-irons, a place in 
which they can be heated, a pressing board and a pair 
of skillful hands is capital enough to start with. 

Even in New York the dress-pressing establishment 
13 


194 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


is only two years old, but now could not be dispensed 
with. The owners of the tailor-made dresses wear 
them to the pressers, and throw their outside wraps 
over their shoulders while they wait for them. The 
suits come up from a room below, good as new in sliape- 
and a smart little girl assists in putting them on, and 
the wearers thereof go out looking spick and span new, 
and come again in a week or so to be made new over 
again. 


WOMEuy IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


195 


xxn. 

CARING FOR OTHERS. 

THE CHAPERONE. 

This profession has kept pace with the times. The 
sphere of the chaperone has been greatly extended, and 
her duties have become more important of late years. 
From a mere figure-head of propriety she has advanced 
to the dignity of a public educator. Formerly her chief 
business was to doze in a chair while her youthful 
charges entertained callers. That order of chaperone 
has vanished completely. She who now wears the 
title does not belong to the dozing fraternity. On the 
contrary she is particularly awake to everything ; an up- 
with-the-times person, indeed, is she, whose business is 
to instruct and entertain those whom she has in charge. 
She takes whole schools of girls to Europe, travels with 
them and shows them whatever she thinks it wise they 
should see. She takes charge of great excursion parties 
who cross this continent intent on sight-seeing. She is 
found in families where the eye of eternal vigilance is 
not to be closed on the beautiful daughters. She is 
everywhere where a combination of elegance, affability, 
ability, judgment and correct deportment are needed, 
and her reward is according to her value. 

TRAINED NERSES. 

“ The time has gone by when it is thought that no 
lady or gentleman should labor with the hands for a 


196 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


living,” said the woman president of the Illinois Train¬ 
ing School for Nurses, as she addressed the graduating 
class of nurses recently. Yes, happily that unprofitable 
time has gone by, and is not likely to come again. The 
race is headed in the direction of individual efficiency; 
the standard of gentle breeding is fixed by the character, 
not by the vocation. 

In no occupation do women more nobly serve human¬ 
ity than as nurses for the sick. For this work strong 
minds, steady nerves, good health, good judgment, 
quick perceptions and ready sympathy must be united 
to deft and willing hands. Two years does the nurse 
give to the course at a training-school, which is as full 
of hard work and close attention to duty as anything 
that may come afterward. 

When she is in possession of her diploma she can 
command from $10 to $30 a week, according to the 
circumstances which govern the scale of prices; and 
she will have no more idle time than she needs for rest 
and recreation,—perhaps not always that much. There 
is always a demand for trained nurses; and there are 
always things for the nurse to learn. If she loves her 
profession, and desires to excel in it, she will improve 
herself all the time. A diploma does not make a good 
nurse. It is only evidence that she has had a certain 
amount of training in her vocation. The rest depends 
upon herself. In her hands, even more than in the doc¬ 
tor’s, hangs the life of the patient. To her watchfulness 
and wisdom his recovery is frequently due. “ A good 
nurse is a wonderful help to a poor doctor. A poor 
nurse can be of no assistance whatever to a good doctor.” 

In England nursing is ranked as a profession, and it 
will be so here before long. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


197 


The training schools usually receive applicants a 
month on probation on the approval of the superintend¬ 
ent, any time in the year when there is a vacancy. 
Good moral character and good health are special 
requirements. During the probation, the applicant will 
be examined in reading, penmanship, simple arithmetic 
and English dictation. During this time they are 
boarded and lodged at the expense of the school, but 
receive no other compensation. After this, if they are 
accepted as pupils, they sign an agreement to remain 
two years and to obey the rules of the schools and 
hospital. During the first year they are paid $8 a 
month; the second year, $12 a month. This is not in 
the nature of wages, but to provide the text books, regu¬ 
lation dress and other little expenses incidental to the 
course. They receive their board and lodging and 
education as equivalent for their services. 

ATTENDANTS FOR THE HELPLESS. 

The Massachusetts Emergency and Hygienic Associa¬ 
tion has prepared a class of young women for a new 
occupation, that of trained attendants for convalescents, 
chronic invalids, elderly persons, and little children. 
It often happens that members of a family are either 
unfitted, unwilling, or unable, through business engage¬ 
ments, to care for their own sick or feeble. The trained 
nurse is too expensive a luxury to be kept through 
weeks, perhaps months, of weary convalescence, and the 
patient, who perhaps was doing well at her departure, 
begins to suffer for proper care. The trained attendant, 
who has been instructed by competent, trained nurses, 
is then prepared to take her place. She has been 
taught how to ventilate the rooms, make beds, bathe the 


198 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


patient, serve and prepare attractive food, and do the 
many other things necessary to make life as pleasant 
as possible for the sick. The young women admitted 
to the Boston classes must be at least twenty years of 
age, and possessed of good antecedents. The course of 
thirty lessons, for which $3 is paid, is followed by an 
examination, which, if creditably passed, entitles the 
pupil to a diploma. 

MATRONS. 

Women thoroughly prepared to fill positions in the 
domestic departments of schools, colleges, asylums, re¬ 
formatories, sanitary institutions and charitable homes 
are hard to find. The demand always exceeds the 
supply. A man at the head of an important educational 
institution belonging to the national government says: 

“ There are a great many institutions of that character 
in this country, and as the spirit of practical beneficence 
develops, their number will increase, and the demand 
for matrons, housekeepers, seamstresses, nurses, and other 
helpers is constant. I wish to assure you from ex¬ 
perience that the work demands women of extraordinary 
abilities. They must be thorough, genuine women, able 
to do duty and teach it in social life. They should be 
educated not only in letters but in all the sciences of 
practical life. They need thoroughly disciplined natures, 
for they are not slaves, but masters, and must know how 
to lead and guide. They must have above all a devoted 
Christian spirit, for theirs is a philanthropic work and 
their reward a heavenly one. 1 consider the position of 
matron in any of the institutions I have referred to the 
highest and noblest that a woman can occupy, next to 
that of wife and mother. And in saying this I, of 
course, do not include those larger philanthropists who, 
by a sublime genius for organization or for inciting 
enthusiasm by speech or pen, gather multitudes under 
their gracious influences. I mean such occupations as 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


190 


may be regarded as within the reach of the average 
woman. While many of the qualities necessary to suc¬ 
cess in connection with the work in these institutions 
are natural* most of them can be acquired. I think it 
would be well to have normal schools to fit women for these 
positions. Surely they need as much training as literary 
teachers. From my own experience and from the tes¬ 
timony of others in similar positions, I can say that 
not one woman in a hundred is competent to be matron 
of any establishment. The majority of women lack 
knowledge, self-control, executive ability, tact, and judg¬ 
ment. ” 


200 


WOMEN IN TEE BUSINESS WOULD. 


XXIII. 

BEHIND THE COUNTER. 

SALESWOMEN. 

This class of workers excite no envy. As a rule 
they are poorly paid and worked to the limit of their 
strength. This is not at all owing to inhumanity on 
the part of their employers ; but is simply the natural 
result of a violation of the equilibrium of supply and 
demand,—one of the elementary laws of the business 
world. They outnumber the demand by thousands, and 
that makes the price of their services drop lower and 
lower all the time. Very little training is required for 
the work, at least those who perform it generally go 
into it with little or no training, and often small 
aptitude. They probably receive as large a salary in 
three months as they will at the end of three years or 
twice as long a time. One may take pains to be partic¬ 
ularly competent and really be more valuable to her 
employer than others; and yet not be rewarded by 
better pay; because hundreds are ready to take her 
place at almost no price at all. They could not do the 
work so well, of course, as she, and her employer knows 
that; but they could do it tolerably, and that fact puts 
an end to the competent one’s chance of ever rising to 
respectable financial heights as a saleswoman. 

Philanthropy has worked at the problem of how to 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


201 


end the wretched disparity between means and ends 
which makes the saleswoman’s life a misery ; but to no 
purpose. The most it can do is to help out a little 
by establishing self-sustaining boarding houses where 
women clerks can obtain board at cost; and even these 
have not always proved a blessing to the class they were 
intended to benefit. Wages cannot be regulated by 
philanthropy, nor would humanity profit by such an 
arrangement, granting it could be made. The question 
is not for philanthropy to settle. It belongs to the 
ethics of the business world,—to economies, not benefi¬ 
cence. The remedy is in conformity to the laws which 
obtain there. 

Cease to overcrowd the ranks. If half the members of 
this class would go into other occupations, the prob¬ 
lem would adjust itself and that right speedily. “ While 
five women stand waiting for her place, the sixth can¬ 
not command living wages.” This is old, sound, plain 
logic. When the five turn to other employments the 
wages of the sixth will advance. 

Some who read this will say , 44 We are quite willing,— 
anxious, even, to go into something else; but what shall 
it be ? This is the only opening we could find.” 

Yet this statement is not true, though they think it is 
when they make it. Any one of them would go into 
spasms of indignation if housework were suggested to 
her, though she would be on a more really independent 
financial and quite as respectable social basis, doing 
housework in some well-regulated family than she is 
now. 

The improvement of this class must come from the 
enlightenment of its individual members. Average 
brains will never see or seize the remedy. It is always 


202 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


the superior mind that strikes out into new paths. 
The desire and determination to have better conditions 
must be general among them before these workers can 
be helped, in the only way in which it is possible to 
help anybody—which is to help them to help themselves. 
The lever is useless without a fulcrum. Their day of 
plenty will come “ when they are ready to do, not the 
work that is not needed at starvation rates, but that 
which is waiting to be done at high prices.” 

The following is the experience, just as she told it, of 
one who solved the riddle for herself: 

“ At seventeen years of age I became one of the great 
army of shop-girls in New York,—an army so vast 
that it is said to constitute one-fourth of the working 
women of the city. I had had some advantages in the 
way of education, and I held almost unlimited views on 
the subject of woman’s independence. I meant to carve 
my way quite finely, I assure you, and was delighted 
at the privilege. Young, strong, full of energy and am¬ 
bition, I entered a dry-goods house, loaded with faith in 
my future usefulness and pecuniary independence. I was 
positively ardent in my work. I learned how to do 
everything required of me and did it, with a fidelity to 
detail and conscientious devotion which excited the 
surprise of those in authority, and the contempt of my 
co-workers. That was an incomprehensible thing to me 
at first—I mean the apathy of the other clerks. They 
moved apparently by compulsion, and, with a few ex¬ 
ceptions seemed to take no interest in their work 
Some went so far as to rebuke me for my zeal, saying, 
4 It’s of no use your working so hard, and trying to do 
everything so nicely; you will not get a cent more—nor 
thanks even—than if you did as we do—which is to 
do just what you have to and no more.’ 

“I persevered, however, in my own way, not so much 
in the hope of gain, as because I could not get my own 
consent to do otherwise. To accomplish less than all 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


203 


I was capable of doing seemed to me not entirely honest. 
I am so constituted that work is a pleasure to me, and 
shirking distasteful. 

“ Well, my business associates were mistaken about 
one thing. I did come into better pay because of my 
efficiency and faithfulness. I was promoted more 
rapidly than is the rule, and, from a beginning of $5 a 
week, rose, at the end of three years, to $10. That was 
more than any other saleswoman in the house received; 
but it was not the summit of my dreams by any means; 
though after a time I was reluctantly obliged to admit 
that it was the end of the financial ladder for me in 
that house. Out of this but little could be saved, even 
with the utmost self-denial; and year by year I found 
myself with less strength and energy. The close con¬ 
finement, bad air, and hurried mentality of the place 
were telling upon even my apparently exhaustless stock 
of health. After four years of it, I saw that a break¬ 
down was not very far off, and that no provision to speak 
of could be made for it out of my income. 

“I pondered over the situation a good deal. Some¬ 
where in my philosophy was a faith that every bad 
situation has its remedy ; but how to find it for my par¬ 
ticular case put me to some trouble. I talked with my 
fellow clerks on the subject; but though all admitted 
the need of a new departure, none had ideas, plans or 
even hope to offer. Most of them accepted their fate 
in a listless spirit, that excited my deepest compassion. 
They lived from day to day, wretchedly enough, and 
the morrow was a specter they dared not face even in 
imagination. Some dreamed of marrying, and were 
capable of jumping into the hottest of matrimonial fires 
to escape the weary frying-pan of the store. Others 
‘ didn’t mind if they died,"’ and still others shrugged 
their shoulders to indicate contemptuous indifference to 
whatever fate had in store for them. 

“ One thing was plain to me; that was that I must get 
out of that business into something with a chance for 
growth in it. Why, I had had dreams of doing some- 


204 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 

thing pretty nice in the way of making money, or mak¬ 
ing a career for myself, as the phrase has it; and there 
I was, feeling old at twenty-one, and simply being able 
to exist in exchange for the whole-souled energy I was 
daily giving out. ‘ No; it will not do,’ I said to my¬ 
self. 4 1 must find a remedy.’ 

“ You will understand that I could not, for lack of 
capital, begin operations in any of the agreeable business 
schemes which flitted through my mind as things that 
appealed to my tastes and challenged my skill. No; I 
must find something that had a living in it from the 
very start. 

“ One day the inspiration came from an unlooked-for 
source. Two women friends met in front of my counter, 
and while waiting for the change of one of them, fell 
into familiar chat about domestic matters. Without in 
the least caring to listen, I soon learned that one was 
in despair because her ‘second girl,’ or housemaid, 
who had been with her for years was about to leave and 
be married. She was wretched over the fact, as the 
maid was invaluable to her, and she feared she could 
never find any one to fill her place so satisfactorily. 

“ An impulse to offer myself controlled me. I saw 
that she belonged to the upper class, and that helped 
me to my decision. 

“ Leaning over the counter, I said to her, ‘ Pardon, if 
I seem obtrusive. Unwillingly I have overheard your 
conversation, and understand that you are in need of 
household help. Could I not fill the place ? I am tired 
of my situation here and should like to try the one you 
have vacant.’ 

“ Well, we made an appointment to talk it over that 
evening, and she engaged me. Wages were fifteen 
dollars a month; but I could save it nearly all, as I 
was sure of good food, a comfortable room and my wash¬ 
ing. After four years at a shop’s counter, I considered 
it a good bargain. 

“ I did not know very much about the work I was 
going into, because at home we had lived rather 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


205 


higgledy-piggledy; but I was teachable, and really anx¬ 
ious to learn how to manage a nice house nicely. 

“ I liked my new situation very much. How refreshing 
was the great clean house after the stifling, hurried air 
of the shop. I had odd hours to devote to reading, and. 
time in which to make my own clothes. As sewing 
was part of my domestic duty, I soon learned, under a 
capable seamstress, to do it nicely. 

44 I began to wonder why more women-clerks did not 
look for situations in private families. But I recalled 
the way I had once felt about such a thing and ceased 
to wonder. The thought of being looked upon and 
spoken to as a 4 servant ’ was repugnant to me ; and I 
do think that the continued use of this term will keep 
the places filled with an inferior class. 

44 Well, I had my ideas on the subject of housework 
and being a servant, with all that the word implies, and 
I was dead against it. However, as time went on, and 
I went on in my daily grind at the shop, it was borne 
in on my mind that I was not escaping servitude or the 
contempt that servitude begets where I was. On the 
contrary, though the offensive word 4 servant ’ was not 
used toward me, I was none the less in the office of one. 
In truth I was the servant of servants. Instead of 
serving one master, I served many, all equally hard to 
please—the hardest being the many-headed and uncer¬ 
tainly-tempered public. When that became clear to 
me, I made up my mind that I could serve one person, 
and even bear the hateful word 4 servant,’ with less 
friction than was needed to serve so many. 

44 1 got on well in my household duties, and saved 
money every year. At the end of the second year I 
had a good chance to learn dressmaking, and became a 
partner of the modiste with whom I learned. I was the 
business partner, writing the letters, receiving callers 
and orders, etc., but I learned the business thoroughly 
in order to be able to carry it on in case of emergency. 
Besides, it is a great folly to go into a business you don’t 
know from the foundation up. My experience in the shop 


206 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


and in the home, both serve me here. My determina¬ 
tion to do as well as I could everywhere lias made my 
fortune. I have now been a dressmaker six years, and 
am independent. My partner and myself rent two large 
flats, in a splendid locality, and employ a large force of 
workwomen. We have each an enviable bank account 
and are independent, because we can do our work well, 
and so are always sure of business. The lady in whose 
house I was 4 second girl,’ gives us all her work, and 
has sent to us many other customers. Between her and 
me a very solid friendship exists. 

44 At the shop where I clerked, not one of the old force 
remains; all are gone, scattered, I know not where. 
Their problem is being solved, I suppose, though I know 
not how. 

44 If I were to offer any advice to women situated as I 
once was,—working on, hopeless of anything higher, in 
an overcrowded occupation,—it would be to get out of it 
and get into something where faithful, able effort would 
be rewarded as it should be. To be plainer, learn to do 
some one thing which you can make a business of your 
own. 

“Few have the pluck to do as I did; but I want to say 
emphatically, that I never regretted taking that 4 second 
girl’s ’ place. The change of work, with good food, 
comfortable surroundings, and the refined mental at¬ 
mosphere of that house, was rest and tonic to my tired 
body and sick spirit. I learned there much that I needed 
to know. The place was a very pleasant stepping-stone in 
my upward career.” 

CASHIERS. 

The difficult office of cashier so frequently filled by 
women, ought to command better pay than it usually 
does. In answer to the question, 44 Do women em¬ 
bezzle ? ” a business man said : 

44 No, they don’t. I never knew a woman who 
handled other people’s money to steal one cent. I have 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


207 


employed women as cashiers for years. They are 
quicker at making change than men; they will detect 
counterfeit money quicker; they keep their cash ac¬ 
counts clearer, and don’t want to run the whole store as 
men do. 

“Newspapers nowadays are full of wicked embezzle¬ 
ments. Bank presidents run away with fortunes, wreck 
homes, families, lives, reputations and public institu¬ 
tions. Cashiers gamble, steal, abscond, speculate, and 
use money entrusted to them by poor working people. 
They lie, dissemble, deceive and finally rob the directors 
of the corporations employing them, but women do not 
steal. 

“ A cashier’s place is a hard one. She sits up there 
alone, generally; she must be quick to make change, 
and the knowledge that every cent lost comes out of her 
$8 or $10 per week naturally tends to make her nervous. 
She must watch for mutilated, punched and plugged 
coins; and for counterfeit pieces and bad bills. The 
checks accompanying the cash, invariably written in 
haste, are often illegible, and if she does not read the 
figures correctly is liable to send back too much change.” 


208 


WOMEN IN THE B USINESS WORLD. 


XXIV. 

EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS IN HORTICULT¬ 
URE. 

A woman who has been astonishingly successful in 
the work of making the earth yield beauty and wealth, 
tells, in the California Illustrated Magazine , under the 
title “ Women in Commercial Horticulture,” of her 
efforts and their results. She also gives several notable 
examples of success in the same pursuit, which show 
that women are quite capable of the financial as well as 
practical management of such enterprises, if they apply 
themselves to it, and determine to learn whatever is 
necessary to know about it. 

Careful study, hard work and much experience pre¬ 
ceded the writer’s success. She owned the first orchard 
planted for commercial purposes in Mississippi, and per¬ 
sonally superintended the pruning and planting of the 
trees. While waiting for pecuniary results, she resolutely 
turned her attention to buying—for a small sum—the 
flowers that grew in neglected profusion in the home- 
gardens about her, and shipping them to northern cities. 
Her perfection in packing made this primitive industry 
such a financial success that it stimulated others to fol¬ 
low her in the new pursuit. 

Women of culture and refinement were the first to em¬ 
bark in the enterprise. Necessity in most cases seems to 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


209 


have been the chief incentive. Yet a few bravely claim 
love of nature and fondness for out-door life as their only 
motive. One philosophical and serious minded-woman 
exceeds all others in her nobility of purpose. Being left a 
widow with four boys, she went into the orchard business, 
not knowing one tree from another, in order to establish 
the foundation of a perfect character, through industry, 
in her children. She possessed money enough to gratify 
every wish, yet her one ambition was “ to teach her 
boys, by force of example, to be industrious and self-sup¬ 
porting.” She purchased thirty-six acres of land near 
San Josd, California, and under her own personal care, 
aided by her boys, it was planted in cherry, apricot and 
prune trees- For four years she did all the pruning, a 
difficult task for a refined and delicate woman, accustomed 
to luxurious ease, but the lesson she sought to teach 
made it a cheerful labor of love, bringing satisfactory 
moral returns as well as pecuniary remuneration. Her 
prune trees alone netted $2,700 one year. 

A typical southern woman highly educated and ac¬ 
complished, and belonging to one of the first families of 
Mississippi, was the first to successfully ship roses to the 
north. She has a method of transplanting them in water 
so they can be sent long distances and arrive as fresh 
as when they were first packed. Finding that early 
vegetables bring high prices, she turned her attention 
to the more practical side of horticulture. By keeping 
herself informed of all the discussions in the horticult¬ 
ural conventions and promptly planting those things 
which are not specially advised, she is always sure of 
what will be in demand, and is never caught on an over¬ 
stocked market. 

A beginner in floriculture has made a wonderful sue- 


210 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


cess in propagating chrysanthemums, increasing her 
varieties from ninety to three hundred and twenty-five 
in one year. She went into the business for physical 
benefit and is so delighted with the result that she advises 
“ all women to burn up their embroidery and knitting 
and have a garden, however small, with a view to dissi¬ 
pating headaches and weak nerves by working in the 
fresh air and sunlight.” 

“ Carmelita,” a wonderful home near Pasadena, is the 
outcome of a woman’s ability and energy. Her husband 
and herself had both been important members of the 
college faculties, but when he became an invalid she 
took what little money they possessed and invested in 
forty-three acres of sheep pasture, for which she paid 
|T5 an acre. She conceived the idea of making this a 
“ blooming garden and a paying one.” With no help 
it was a difficult undertaking, but her courage never 
failed, and in five years her orchard was complete. For¬ 
tune graciously rewarded her efforts in the fifth year by 
building Pasadena, which increased the price of her 
land to $2,000 an acre. No other place in the state is 
said to have such a fine variety of trees and plants, 
vines and flowers. 

The widow of one of San Francisco’s popular bankers, 
once a favorite in society, stands at the head of the cut- 
flower industry on the tracts near San Mateo, California, 
where her taste in floral decoration is pre-eminent. Left 
with no fortune except a small piece of land, she promptly 
seized the first opportunity for means of support by turn¬ 
ing this into a veritable flower garden. She has now 140 
acres under a high state of cultivation, and gives her per¬ 
sonal attention to every branch of the business, irrigation 
included. With seven acres of orchids, five of violets, 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


211 


seven of chrysanthemums, and a proportionate share of 
roses and other flowers, her stock in trade must be a 
delight to the eye, and quite as pleasing to the senses as 
the satisfactory income which it brings. She is excelled 
by none in the management of this vast garden of 
blooming fragrance, and accomplishes the work with 
perfect ease, finding plenty of time and inclination to 
help the needy and unfortunate. 

A real rose ranch of sixteen acres and a practical 
factory for the extraction of perfume from flowers and 
plants is to be found in the foothills near Los Gatos. 
It is managed by the wife of a San Francisco physician, 
and she thoroughly understands the business, having 
lived in the towns in France where the extraction of 
perfume is the principal occupation. Her samples of 
rose extract are found to be fully equal to the im¬ 
ported. This is looked upon by these enterprising 
California women as a coming and profitable industry for 
women. 

One enterprising woman has developed a lucrative 
business by propagating and shipping camellias, which 
are especially adapted to the soil and climate of Califor¬ 
nia. She has an original method of packing these deli¬ 
cate blossoms so that their perfect condition brings her 
a high price in market. Another, without the impetus 
of grinding poverty, has become famous as a bulb and 
seed-grower. Pure love of nature and adventure led 
her to develop all the resources within herself, and she 
now “proposes to make her miniature farm a supply 
depot of everything rare and valuable within the limits 
of her climate and locality.” She met with many rebuffs 
in her first ventures, because as a seed-grower her name 
was unknown in the market, but by adopting a system 


212 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


of exchange she succeeded in gaining eastern apprecia¬ 
tion of her seeds and now orders come from every part 
of the United States and Europe. The experiments 
met with marvelous success and her novelties attract 
wide-spread attention. 

HOP-FARMING. 

In the states of the Pacific, as well as of the Atlantic 
coast, hop-raising is a popular farm industry. There 
is no reason why hops would not grow in any locality 
where other things grow. 

A traveler who had visited a hop-farm in Wash¬ 
ington, said, that out of thirty-six acres the proprietor 
had made a very respectable fortune in five years. He 
began with a capital of $25 and his desert ground. 
His hops were pressed into bales and shipped direct 
to consumers. 

GRAFTING AND BUDDING. 

This has been suggested as a good occupation for 
women, because it is not laborious, is quickly learned, 
requires no heavy capital, and leads on to other 
work,—pruning and vine-dressing. Besides it pays 
well in money and health. The way to begin is to get 
a standard work on fruit gardening and study it. 
There is so much to be learned about the tastes and 
habits of trees, which have individuality the same as 
people, that the student becomes fascinated and inter¬ 
ested the deeper she goes into it. 

RAISING TUBE-ROSES AND COTTON. 

A lady of South Carolina tells how she made a respect¬ 
able income from less than three acres of ground, by 
cultivating it for all it was worth, in special products. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


213 


On a quarter of an acre she had 30,000 tube-rose plants, 
which she sold to a northern florist at $18 a thousand. 
Out of the sum received she had to deduct the price of 
the bulbs and the fertilizer, which was not much. From 
two acres of ground she raised 800 pounds of cotton. 
This result shows that ever so small a bit of ground put 
under special and thorough cultivation will amply re¬ 
ward the worker. 


RAISING BERRIES. 

One who has tried it, says: “ A woman that lives 
near a good market for small fruits can set one thousand 
strawberry plants in the spring, and she can cultivate 
them by working an hour or two each day amongst 
them—from daylight till sunrise each morning through 
the summer—will make nice, thrifty plants, and will 
find that she has gained health and strength by the work. 
And if the plants do well she will have at least five 
hundred quarts, perhaps a thousand, for sometimes one 
plant will produce a quart of berries the first bearing 
season, that is, little over one year from time of setting ; 
and if she can sell them at 20 cents per quart, which 
she can if she has fancy berries, she will realize enough 
to pay for all the labor expended. And then if she 
wishes to do so she can set a few thousand more plants. 
Or you can have a field of cultivated blackberries, 
they usualty sell well; or raspberries, that are of easy 
culture, and in demand in their season. But you must 
understand something of the work in which you engage 
before you need hope for success, for success only crowns 
well-directed effort.” 

A correspondent of the Inter- Ocean tells of the efforts 
of a widow in Illinois: u Her capital consisted of a 
comfortable house located in a large barren village lot, 
a stable and one cow. She had three dependent chil¬ 
dren, and no income. After due consideration and prep- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


214 

aration, she had the lot plowed in early spring, and 
converted it into one large strawberry bed, while around 
its sides were planted black-cap raspberries. She selected 
standard reliable varieties, and gave her plants good and 
thorough cultivation. The next spring her plants were 
strong and thrifty, and in good bearing condition. A 
compact was made with her grocer, who undertook the 
sale of the entire crop. When the season was over and 
settlements made, the widow felt well paid for all her 
work and anxiety, for her berries had returned sufficient 
over expenses to provide for all the needs of herself and 
children until the next spring. Then she secured an 
adjacent vacant lot on a long lease, at a low rent, and 
filled it with the increase of plants from her original 
patch. The question of support was settled ; there was 
no need for her to leave her home to labor, and last, but 
by no means least, she was able to interest and employ 
her children, to teach them the lesson of self-help and 
mutual help, and to keep them under her care. In till¬ 
ing the soil on a large scale women seem to be as suc¬ 
cessful as in the berry patch.” 

FRUIT FARMING. 

A story comes from near San Jos6, California, of a 
woman who owned and managed a fruit farm of twelve 
and a half acres. She planted her own trees, giving 
them the most careful cultivation, and soon had an 
income from them. One year she netted thirty-five 
hundred dollars ; and the year following sold her crop 
on the trees for four thousand dollars. From five and 
one-half acres of prunes eighty tons of fruit were gathered. 
This is the story as it appeared in the newspapers. 

GENERAL FARMING. 

Instances are numerous where widows, with children to 
support, have carried on farms successfully. Not in- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


215 


frequently they have paid for them as well as cultivated 
them; yet it is still rare for a young woman, looking 
about for an occupation, to think of buying or renting 
a farm and trying her skill at its management. It 
would seem that what widows have done, with little 
children to look after, young women untrammeled might 
do even better. Now and then some are courageous 
enough to undertake it; but for the most part it never 
enters their heads to look for an occupation in the 
country. One would think that the prospect of becom¬ 
ing landed proprietors, of managing their own business* 
living in their own homes, where sunlight, air, trees, grass 
and flowers are plentiful, would lure weary workers in 
great numbers away from dusty cities to find an 
occupation in the first and most natural of all occupa¬ 
tions—tilling the soil. To the average young woman, 
however, the rattle of a horse-car is sweeter music than is 
the murmur of any rill that ever flowed. It is only the 
exceptional man or woman who really appreciates that 
part of the world which is God’s peculiar handiwork, the 
country. Average humanity is invariably gregarious. 
It cannot live out of the sight and sound of multitudes 
of its kind. 

Yet the day is coming, nor is it far off, when to live 
in the city will be to be ranked as something less than 
first-class socially. The cities will become simply great 
marts where the buyer and seller meet, and where the 
poorest laborer lives because he cannot live anywhere 
else and be prompt at his work. 

That co-operative farming will become one of the 
chief industries for women is one of the certainties of 
the future. It is destined to be one of the most charm¬ 
ing of vocations for cultivated minds, in the days that 


216 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


are coming when Tolstoi’s theory of alternating the labor 
of the hands with the labor of the brain every day shall 
be generally adopted as it ought to be. 

Farm work, or even management, is not easy, but where 
is the occupation without pains, perplexities and weari¬ 
ness of body and spirit at times? If such an industry 
could be found it would be at once overcrowded. Every¬ 
body would want to do that and nothing else. All 
vocations have their drawbacks and pains. The woman 
editor of a well-known juvenile magazine was one of 
two girls who leased a farm in Michigan and lived upon it 
and worked it with their own hands, with the occasional 
help of a man for the rougher work. For a long time it 
did not pay, and they endured the contemptuous sneers 
and good-natured ridicule of neighbors and friends ; but 
at last they began to have a profit; and when their lease 
expired they had the respect of the community for the 
success they had made of the farm and their business¬ 
like methods. Out of the experience one saved enough to 
start her as a proprietary editor, a position she only gave 
up to become editor of one of the best-known of maga¬ 
zines for little people. 

In going west or south and taking up homesteads 
under the beneficent provisions of the land laws, many 
women have shown courage and wisdom. 

A woman-farmer near Rockland, Maine, who carried 
on a farm successfully and kept her family together by 
that means, does not advise women to go into general 
farming as a life-work ; but rather “ to fit themselves for 
farmers’ wives, if they are really interested in farming.” 

It would scarcely be possible for a woman-farmer to 
work harder than many farmers’ wives do; and she 
would at least have the satisfaction of owning the pro- 


Women in the business world. 217 

ceeds of her labor, which is something in the way of 
compensation. 

Co-operation, which has to be learned by women, will 
put the business of farming on a more attractive footing. 
What one cannot do single-handed, the capital and labor 
of three or four can accomplish easily. It will also 
solve the problem of the loneliness of farm life, this 
being one of the terrible bugbears to average young 
people. Marriage is simply co-operation on a limited 
scale. 

The women-farmers of the future will not be drudges. 
They will know how to work with their hands with¬ 
out loss of beauty or refinement. Science and the in¬ 
ventive arts will be their servants. The soil will readily 
yield its riches to them, and the cultivation of it will 
go hand in hand with the highest cultivation of the 
mind. They will belong to the aristocracy, which will 
include all who are useful to the world—all who serve 
—service being the price of living. 

SURPLUS OF THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. 

After the family table is supplied there is usually a 
surplus of every vegetable grown in the garden. If 
there is no profitable market for these just as they are 
pulled, they may be made saleable by preparing them 
for winter use ; and as there is usually plenty of storage 
room where family vegetable gardens exist, it will cost 
nothing to set the cans and jars containing them aside 
until bu}^ers are found. The ripe tomatoes and onions 
can be made into Chili sauce, which keeps well and is 
always in demand. Green tomatoes make delicious 
sweet pickles, cucumbers can be pickled whole, or sliced 
and put in a brine that keeps them for months. Every- 


218 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


thing green can be “ put up ” for winter use; and can 
be sold, too, by putting forth a little effort. 

THE LITTLE PATCH OF GEOUND. 

Frequently near country or village houses there is a 
bit of ground neither cultivated nor beautiful, which, 
year after year, is given up to total waste. Sometimes, 
besides its reprehensible idleness, it is an eyesore and 
health-menace, being used as a “ place in which to sling 
things.” Old boots, empty cans, ashes, and other dSbris 
far less respectable usually find there an uninterrupted 
rest. If some one suggests to the owner that it would be 
a good thing to put it to use, there is always an indif¬ 
ferent answer. “ It is too small to amount to anything,” 
or, “ it needs too much clearing up,” or, “ it isn’t worth 
while.” Yet this very little waste scrap of land may 
have winter clothes, books, new furniture and various 
desirable things wrapped up in its insignificance. Just 
such despised spots have brought forth wonderful 
pecuniary results when the hand of skill was applied 
to them. Clear it up, plow and fertilize it, and plant 
it in some one saleable vegetable to which its location 
adapts it; or put it in small fruits or grapes. Perhaps 
as a little onion farm it may have a hundred or two 
hundred dollars to give you every year. Or if cabbage 
is what you decide upon for it, the profit may be almost 
as good. It is astonishing how fine a return there is in 
an acre of cabbage at five or even three cents a head. 
If you don’t want to cultivate the waste patch, fence 
it in, build a small house on it and make a tiny chicken 
farm of it. In any case, use it. Ground should not 
lie idle. It is always willing to pay interest on what¬ 
ever time and work are invested in it. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 219 

RAISING CELERY. 

This is a work in which a woman can engage, par¬ 
ticularly if she lives where the climate and soil are 
adapted to it. Mrs. H. M. Crider, of York, Pa., a practical 
celery grower, has written a book entitled “ How to 
Grow Fine Celery,” which gives some plain directions 
on the subject. 

HOW A WOMAN MADE HALF A MILLION DOLLARS. 

A California woman who now owns 400 acres of land 
has a history that ought to inspire other women with a 
belief in their own ability to get on in the world. In 1861 
her husband died, leaving her with a debt of $1,400, 
three children and a small farm mortgaged. Within 
five years she had paid the mortgage by taking boarders, 
raising chickens and doing whatever offered. In 1877 
she began to raise pyrethrum, the plant from which in¬ 
sect powder is made, some years having 100 acres 
planted with it. Now she employs from 50 to 80 em¬ 
ployees of both sexes, and is said to be worth half a 
million dollars. She also has an orchard of 20 acres, 
planted in apples, apricots, small fruits and nuts, from 
which she clears $5,000 some years. 

GARDENING. 

This is one of the most profitable and agreeable oc¬ 
cupations for women. It has many advantages over the 
learned professions. The gardener has control of her 
own business. She is a land-owner or on the road to 
being one. She is protected from unpleasant contact 
with the world, and so avoids the disagreeable attrition 
of life. She is not arousing the envy of women in pro¬ 
fessional careers. She can have the assistance of her 


220 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD . 

boys and girls in her work, and she has the joy, which 
is no small one, of seeing the earth blossoming like the 
rose under her hand. Nothing is so grateful as the soil. 
For every care and attention given it, it makes a return 
of a hundred-fold. 

In England, gardening has become so attractive an 
occupation to women, that a woman’s branch has been 
opened at the celebrated Horticultural College, at 
Swanley, where many women are fitting themselves for 
professional gardeners. At some examinations for 
diplomas, the highest honors were carried off by 
women. Many of the graduates have gone into business 
on their own account, as market-gardeners, and are 
doing well. 

The college teaching embraces lecture and demon¬ 
stration work, while the students cultivate gardens 
under the supervision of a skillful gardener. Yegetables 
and flowers are grown and the students watch every part 
of the work. They are shown how to pack produce for 
the market and how to estimate what it can be sold for. 
Besides this there are courses in dairy and poultry work 
and bee-keeping, while lectures are given ou the theories 
of these subjects and on the elementary physiology 
of domestic animals, on botany, meteorology, geology, 
chemistry, surveying, leveling, bookkeeping, and build¬ 
ing construction. 

The women students live, under the charge of a 
woman superintendent, in a charming house near the 
college. The whole cost of the training and living is 
covered by the sum of ,£70 or £80 a year. Occasional 
scholarships will be awarded. 

The professors of the Horticultural College speak very 
highly of the refining and wholesome influence the 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


221 


women have over the men by working with them, and 
never shirking the rougher work. It is now deemed 
advisable to establish a fund fora scholarship for women. 

The commercial side of gardening as an occupation 
for women is not more important than the benefit gained 
by the bracing effect of this employment on their health. 
The continued and not over-fatiguing exercise in the 
open air is found to be a wonderful nerve tonic, a medi¬ 
cine which is in constant demand and upon which for¬ 
tunes are spent every year since women have become so 
burdened with innumerable little cares that they cannot 
give themselves time to rest. This practical means of 
relief for the prevailing complaint of “ nerves ” may not 
meet with the approval of fastidious women who object 
to labor of any sort. However, the fact that they can 
be immensely improved in appearance by a few months 
of this rustic work may possibly appeal, with encour¬ 
aging results, to their vanity. The improvement is so 
marked that it has been suggested at the college that 
they have their pictures taken on entrance and de¬ 
parture. The physical strain demanded is said not to 
be too heavy, and one physician contemplates starting a 
market garden for the benefit of nervous women. 

Several applications have been received for women 
head gardeners, and one for a woman to take entire 
charge of conservatories. Students are trained in all 
branches of fruit, vegetable, and flower-culture, and are 
taught how to make jam and fruit juices, and the 
science of canning, crystalizing and evaporating fruit. 

A woman’s branch of the Horticultural College in 
Kent, England, was established two years ago, and has 
now eight students. It is said that all those who have 
entered thus far seem to thoroughly enjoy their work. 


222 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


The young women attend lectures on the science of 
gardening, the practical demonstrations of grafting, 
pruning, and propagating; the gathering of fruit and 
flowers ; marketing, bookkeeping, and everything else 
necessary to thorough efficiency is taught theoretically 
and practically. Three hours each day are spent in 
theoretical work, and five in the practical application of 
theories, working in the ground just as the young men 
do. The college course is two years, but two capable 
young women finished the course in one year, and are 
now engaged in market-gardening under glass on their 
own account. 

Americans are only beginning to understand that a 
small patch of land may be cultivated with great profit. 
The Japanese immigrants who have settled in California 
within the past few years, have aroused the interest of 
horticulturists to their method of tillage which has pre¬ 
vailed for ages in Japan. They understand the art of 
getting a bountiful return from every inch of soil. With 
three or four acres, the Japanese farmer satisfies his 
every want, keeps clear of debt and lays up money. 
With one acre in vegetables he is independent. 

It is said that the whole of our sixty-five millions of 
people could dwell in the three states of California, 
Nebraska and Kansas, without producing a greater 
density of population than there is in Japan, England or 
several other countries. In the two Chinese provinces 
of Kiang-Su and Ngan-Hue, the area of which is but 
two-thirds as large as California, over sixty millions find 
the means of life. 

Many a woman has a home with a bit of ground at¬ 
tached, which hardly pays the taxes. She is fretting 
and struggling to make a little money to live on. The 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


223 


only way she can think of is to sew or teach or find 
something to do for which she will he paid, however 
small a sum. Her bit of ground can be made to pay like 
a bank, if she goes at it right. Let her buy a good book 
on Market-Gardening, study it and set to work to get 
the most out of her bit of ground. “ Onions for Profit,” 
published by a Philadelphia publisher, will give her in¬ 
structions on that profitable specialty. “ Market-Garden¬ 
ing and Farm Notes,” by Burnet Landreth, one of the 
foremost practical and scientific horticulturists in the 
United States, will be as good an education in gardening 
as can be had from a book. 

“COME SOUTH, YOUNG WOMAN.” 

Mrs. Field, of New Orleans, a writer on the staff of 
the Picayune , of which Mrs. E. J. Nicholson is princi¬ 
pal owner, delivers a lecture with the above title, which 
is enthusiastic enough to bring an army of young 
womanhood to answer the call. She says Louisiana is 
waiting to be cut up into small holdings by young 
Corydons and Phyllises, who will grow cotton for the 
central factories, have market gardens, orchards, dairy- 
farms and poultry-yards, and who will also grow flowers 
and make honey. She spoke of Louisiana as already 
possessing a woman steamboat captain—Captain Mary 
Miller—and as “a State that builds a monument to 
the memory of a woman who never had on a kid glove 
in all her life, who could not write her name, who 
was only great in her goodness; that was Margaret 
Haugheiy, the baker woman whose loaves built asylums 
and yet fed thousands of hungry ones.” 

Mrs. Field said that she had seen a kitchen garden 
whose products equaled any shown at the Chicago. 
Fair, and yet they were raised by two young girls 
Near by, in the same parish of Cameron, a young Iowa 
girl-squatter, with her 16-year old brother, took up 
a government claim of 160 acres and went to planting 


224 


WOMEN IN TIIE BUSINESS WORLD. 


rice, the first crop of which paid her $1,200. She lives 
in a three-room cottage, and has a few fruit trees, plenty 
of good fences, and a sea of waving rice blades. Her 
nearest neighbor is another girl farmer, who also settled 
a government claim, and is bossing an orchard that is 
already giving her a comfortable living. The lecturess 
also told a story of a woman who is dressmaking in 
Chicago, and who bought twenty acres of Louisiana 
land out of her savings and sent her mother and 
brother down there to start a poultry farm. They 
have been so successful that she is about to join them 
and add small fruits and vegetables to the crops on her 
land, being assured of becoming independent thereby. 

Mrs. Field said that all along the Illinois Central in 
the river-bottom land of Mississippi and Louisiana “ are 
fruit and vegetable farms managed by women—most of 
them newcomers.” They manage the farms and pack 
the berries and vegetables for the Chicago market. On 
an old plantation near New Orleans is an old woman 
who grows camellias and has been to Europe twice on 
the profits. In Grant parish, in the Red River country, 
there is an 18-year old girl who runs her father’s cotton 
gin, and gins 1,800 bales a year. “ She handles that 
snorting machine as if it were a baby: oils it, feeds it, 
fools over it, scolds it, tidies it up, and when it is 
working as good as gold, she sits beside it—dear, dainty, 
and only 18—crocheting lace for her petticoats.” 

Katherine L. Minor of the Board of Lady Mana¬ 
gers of the Columbian Exposition, is a Louisiana plan¬ 
ter, and, according to this lecture, in every parish are 
women-farmers, stock-raisers, and planters. Mrs. Field 
herself wears a medal that was the gift of the women of 
twenty different trades and professions followed by the 
working women of New Orleans. “Women are a 
power in the South,” she says—though that is not a 
new idea—“ of fearful force when they organize.” 

“ Come South, young woman,” she says, “ and you 
will flower there, fragrancing all the air. There you 
will learn what it is to be free, and there a woman may 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


225 


be as she wills—an ant in the morning, a bee at noon, 
and a butterfly at night.” 

Miss Clare de Graffenreid, special agent for the 
United States department of labor, says: 

“ Nowhere else in the world do so many well-bred 
women, bankrupt and bereft of male providers, labor at 
manual callings as at the South, pursuing, without loss 
of caste, vocations which elsewhere involve social ostra¬ 
cism.” 

VIOLETS, SWEET VIOLETS. 

“ Violet-growing is comparatively a new branch of 
industry for women to engage in, and yet so successful 
have those engaged in this branch of floriculture been 
that to-day the finest violets brought to the New York 
market are raised by women,” says the New York 
Herald. 

“ There are two thriving violet farms, managed exclu¬ 
sively by women who are their respective owners. One 
is Meadow Springs farm, at Stamford, Connecticut, 
belonging to Mrs. Ned Leavitt, and the other is the 
Holmdale Violet farm, at Madison, New Jersey, owned 
and managed by Mrs. Robert B. Holmes, who thus tells 
the story of how she became a farmer of violets: 

“ Some years ago I married Mr. Robert B. Holmes, who 
was, as he is now, a Wall Street broker. We lived in 
New York, where I was born and had always lived. Our 
life was like that of all New York people who are much 
in society. It was one constant round of social func¬ 
tions, so hollow and heartless that I began to get weary 
of it all, and longed for a more earnest sort of life. By 
and by the children began to come, and, strange to say, 
although Mr. Holmes and I were both strong and well, 
our little ones were delicate. 

“ Then I persuaded my husband to go to the country 
to live, and he did not need much urging, I assure you, 
for he was as sick of city life as I was. We had many 
friends who owned places out here, so we bought this 
place eight years ago, and have lived here ever since. 


226 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


“ I must confess after the novelty wore off I found 
country life rather dull, but that was solely for the want 
of occupation. Soon after we lost our eldest child, and 
you can imagine that life became more monotonous than 
ever. 

“I am passionately fond of flowers, and the dear one 
who died was so fond of violets I began raising them in 
cold frames, without any idea why I did—just because 
I loved the flowers for her sake. 

“ I was marvelously successful from the beginning. 
I supplied all my neighbors and friends in New York 
with violets, and I became more and more interested in 
the work. Then I said to myself, ‘ Why should I not 
raise these flowers for the markets and try to make some 
money out of it ? ’ So, with my husband’s consent, I 
had these houses, which you see, built a little over three 
years ago. It was really a risky thing to invest so much 
in an enterprise about which I knew so little, but I 
have never had any reason to regret it. 

“ I believe my great success in raising violets is due 
to two things—first, I keep the temperature of my 
houses so low, never above 40 degrees at night and 
during the day the same, save when the heat of the sun 
increases it; second, the perfect cleanliness which I 
maintain about the plants is a great element toward the 
success of their growth. They are like human beings, 
and must be kept clean in order to look healthy. 

“ I raise the violets from runners potted off as small 
plants, and carry them in pots through the summer; 
then early in the fall I plant them in the houses as you 
see them here in those table beds, six in a row; just 
such a distance apart the entire length of the beds. I 
do the cutting myself and the potting, and only require 
assistance in transplanting. Oh, how much experience 
teaches one in this work ! 

“ I do all the bunching myself, putting fifty violets in 
a bunch, and I frequently send 11,000 to New York 
daily. I bunch them one day, and slip the stems 
through a hole cut in a piece of stiff paper to keep the 


WOMEN IN THE B USINESS WORLD. 


227 


flowers from touching the water. Then I stand them 
iii water and put them in a dark, cool, dry place, and 
the next morning they are carefully boxed and sent to 
the commission or middlemen in New York. 

“If we could only have a flower market, as they do in 
Paris, and take our violets directly there, it would be a 
boon. 

“ I raise but two varieties of violets—the Marie Louise, 
this large double flower you see here, and the Swanley 
White, which I will show you in the other houses over 
there, where they are grown. 

“ There is a new variety, the Lady Hume Campbell, 
which I am experimeuting on. 1 do not raise the 
Russian violet, as I do not like the single flower; they 
droop so quickly. I have learned that violets should 
never be sprinkled after they are picked, nor should 
they be placed near ice. 

“ Next year I mean to have a rose-farm, and go exten¬ 
sively into rose-growing.” 


228 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


XXV. 

COUNTRY HOME-INDUSTRIES. 

POULTRY-RAISING. 

This is one of the best possible occupations for women 
who live where it can be engaged in. The wonder is 
that many more are not busy at it. Hundreds, yes, 
thousands, are idle and wishing they knew what to do 
to earn money, yet the United States has to import from 
Europe one-third of the eggs it uses. Scientific poultry 
raising is a comparatively new industry, which is more 
profitable than almost any other that country people 
can devote themselves to, considering the capital in¬ 
vested. Books and periodicals which give the newest 
and best methods and discoveries of the business are 
numerous ; making the matter of acquiring instruction 
easy for all. It is unnecessary to say, however, that no 
matter how excellent and comprehensive the literature 
of this industry, the education acquired by engaging in 
it is the most serviceable. The books and papers must 
be relied on to tell how to begin, what breeds of fowls 
are best adapted to different climates, and will be use¬ 
ful in a hundred ways. It is a good rule, no matter 
what your business may be, to take all the periodicals 
pertaining to it that you can possibly afford, and buy 
the books that have something to say about it, too. 
That is the way scientific information becomes diffused, 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


229 


and new ways of doing become general. Nobody knows 
a business so well that somebody else can't teach him 
something about it. The papers and books may save 
you many times their cost. When hard times come and 
you begin to cut down expenses, don’t discontinue papers 
or quit buying books. That would be anything but an 
economical departure. 

In poultry-raising there need be no worry about find¬ 
ing a market for the products of the chicken farm. The 
demand is always good, and sometimes very good. The 
taste for chicken and eggs is universal. Neither is the 
business limited to any particular climate; modern 
science being ready with devices which overcome all the 
drawbacks everywhere. 

In France, in several instances, women have made 
great fortunes in chicken-raising. In this country they 
have succeeded to an astonishing extent, wherever the 
work has been undertaken with intelligence and whole¬ 
hearted devotion to it. 

A traveler tells of a farmer’s daughter in California, 
who, on her return from college, gave her attention to 
raising chickens and netted $1,000 a year from her work. 
She had a number of small enclosures, each with capacity 
for 40 chickens, with a little house in the center. The 
cost of all the enclosures and tiny houses was less than 
$ 200 . 

Energy, industry and courage are the necessary in¬ 
gredients of the capital for this business. A chicken 
farm in New Jersey which has buildings that cost 
$5,000 all made out of the business, was started three 
years ago with only $25 in money. The proprietor is a 
man who has been engaged in business in New York all 
the time, and could give it his personal attention only 


230 


WOMEN IN THE B USINESS WORLD. 


nights and mornings. His farm is devoted exclusively 
to the production of eggs. As he has 1,000 laying hens, 
which he manages to keep laying almost the year round, 
it is easy to see that his income is very respectable. 

Some start with a capital of $100, and others have 
put as high as $40,000 into the business in the beginning, 
going into it on a scale vast and apparently extravagant. 

A chicken farm in New Jersey which covers six acres 
of ground is thus described : “ It is -enclosed by a fence 
about six feet high, and contains a number of wooden 
buildings, built especially for chicken-raising. One of 
these measures 60x80 feet and is twenty feet high. It 
was originally built for the fattening of poultry. It is 
divided into pens for flocks of chickens of different 
breeds. The pen measures about 10x20 feet, and each con¬ 
tains nest-boxes, roosts and feeding troughs. Another 
building on the ground is long and narrow, 100x15 
feet, and is divided into pens the same as the other. 
Still another is 40x15 feet, which we use principally 
for ducks. It has a small pond adjoining. On a knoll 
back of these buildings we keep a large number, of arti¬ 
ficial brooders for young chicks taken from the incuba¬ 
tors at the store. They are kept in these brooders four 
weeks and are then old enough to be put in with the 
larger stock. 

Without crowding it will contain nearly 1,000 full- 
grown fowls, 5,000 young chicks and 1,000 ducks. The 
cost of such a ranch complete, without the land, is about 
$5,000. One man and a boy can attend to it nicely. 
Their duties are to feed and water the fowls regularly 
and keep the buildings thoroughly cleaned. If \h\s is 
properly done it keeps the fowls in perfectly good 
health. Such a business, properly carried on, will yield 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


231 


a profit of at least 100 per cent, on the capital invested, 
and even that is a low estimate. 

Many families of wealth, weary of life in cities, have 
gone to the country, and, having no business to engage 
his attention, the head of the house devotes some of his 
leisure time to raising fancy poultry, by way of recrea¬ 
tion. 

The development of every industry opens new ones 
in the way of furnishing supplies. Poultry-raising has 
given rise to several. Incubators are the outcome of 
large ventures in this direction, and the making of 
ground bones and 0 } r ster shells fed to the chicks has 
already grown to be an important business in itself. 
One house in New York sells fifty tons of it a year. 
Wire-netting for fences for poultry yards is another 
business greatly enlarged by the increased interest in 
poultry-raising. 

A woman, who has been successful in this work, says: 
“ Poultry-raising does not require any great amount of 
mere brute strength, but it does require patience, gentle¬ 
ness, unceasing, watchful care, and a close attention to 
minute details, and for this reason women seem espe¬ 
cially fitted for the work. It is with this as with any 
other occupation that women may engage in,—the ones 
that make the money—the successful ones—are the ones 
that do the best work and the most of it; and in order 
to do her best a woman must possess her full power of 
health and strength. Those who start in must expect 
to meet with some discouragements along the way. 
Poultry-raising is not, as some poultry writers would 
have us believe, a “royal road” to wealth; there will 
be many obstacles to overcome, and many things to 
learn that one can only learn by experience before the 


232 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


poultry-raiser will find herself on the high-road to 
success ; but remember that there is nothing connected 
with any branch of poultry-raising that a woman of 
average intelligence, who is determined to succeed, may 
not master; no obstacle that she may not overcome, 
that other women have made a success of the business, 
and the same amount of work, energy and perseverance 
that would enable one to win in any other calling that 
comes within the scope of ordinary abilities, will bring 
success in this.” 

ONE GIBL’S EFFOKT. 

A newspaper story tells how a young girl prospered 
in raising poultry. Her grandfather left her two pairs 
of Muscovy ducks, four Brahma hens and a Plymouth 
Rock rooster. She said she was going to make money 
out of them. Her friends laughed at her, and proph¬ 
esied she would not succeed. But she fed them on 
scraps from the table, and wheat screenings, for which 
she paid. She picked up bones and oyster shells, and 
got some lime from the foundations of an old homestead. 
Eventually she grew corn for them in the garden, built 
coops, raised chickens and sold eggs. At the conclusion 
of the season her account of receipts and disbursements 
stood as follows: 

BECEIPTS. 


February, 6 doz.; March, 6 doz., at 25c.. $3 00 

April (setting month), 4 doz.; May, 6 doz. 2 50 

June, 6 doz.; July, 6 doz.; August, 6 doz. 4 50 

September, 8 doz.; October, 8 doz.; at 40c. per doz.. 6 40 

November, 8 doz.; at 40c. 3 20 

December (pullets laying), 16 doz., at 50c. 8 00 

12 pairs chicks at 60c. per pair. 7 20 

8 pairs of ducks at $1.00 a pair. 8 00 

Feathers sold . 2 50 

Wings of fowls sold in store, 40, at 3c. each. 1 20 


Total.$46 50 













WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


233 


DISBURSEMENTS. 


Paid for wheat screenings. $3 50 

Seed corn, pepper and butcher’s scraps. 1 50 $5 00 

Leaving a profit of.$41 00 


At the end of three seasons she had made enough 
money from her enterprise to attend an academy and 
fit herself for a teacher, besides putting away some 
money in the bank. 


BEE-KEEPING. 

In hundreds of villages and in country houses women 
are turning over the difficult question, “ What shall I 
do to earn mone}^?” Yet few ever think of giving 
thought and effort to bee culture, an industry that has 
only to be started properly to set thousands of little 
people to work to solve the financial problem in the 
sweetest way, for their owner. 

The bee has always had a reputation for great indus¬ 
try, but under the manipulation of science he becomes 
a veritable Vanderbilt in accumulating treasure, and 
lays up a store of honey that enriches his owner, as well 
as himself. 

The old method of keeping bees was to let them have 
their own way about everything. Now they have to do 
as their owner thinks best, and the result is the gain of 
both. 

A successful woman bee-keeper in Ouachita parish, 
Louisiana, sends six barrels of honey to the New 
Orleans market at one time. 

Another at Santa Ana, California, sells 10,000 jars 
of honey every summer. A few years ago she gave the 
following information in regard to bee-keeping : 





234 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 

“ What is the demand for the product of the bee ? 
There is a good demand for California honey at home 
as well as abroad. Bordering, as this state does, on the 
Pacific, the facilities for shipping to foreign markets are 
excellent. Prices are moderate but the demand is 
steady. 

“ What qualifications are essential to success ? In 
order to answer this question, I will make a little ex¬ 
planation as regards bee-keeping in California. The 
apiaries are located along the foot of the mountains, and 
generally several miles from the settlements; conse¬ 
quently the apiarian is cut off from the turmoil of a city 
life, and lives what to some would be a very monoto¬ 
nous existence. Therefore, one of the qualifications for 
a successful bee-keeper is to be able to live away from 
town or village, and be contented with a weekly, or, at 
best, semi-weekly, mail; also, he or she should be of a 
calm and gentle disposition, not easily excited, as the 
bees themselves are very nervous, and quickly agitated 
as well as irritated. Neatness and order are essential; 
and, last but not least, energy is necessary. There 
should be no human drones about an apiary. Women 
have engaged in the business to considerable of an ex¬ 
tent. Though the proprietors of apiaries are usually 
men, their wives and daughters do much of the work in 
attending to the bees; and, if a woman is so disposed, 
she can manage an apiary herself, as some have success¬ 
fully done. Any of the standard works on bees can be 
relied upon for information pertaining to the work 
of bee-culture. Much can be learned from the bee 
journals. 

“ Five hundred dollars will start any one with fifty 
colonies of bees and all necessary appurtenances to oper¬ 
ate the business. An income can be expected within a 
year, or less time. 

“ It is a business which gives quicker returns for the 
capital invested than any I know of. 

“ My experience in bee-keeping has all been in Cali¬ 
fornia. Practically, I have no knowledge of the busi- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 235 

ness in any other place. Should a woman have a liking 
for this occupation, and not the capital, she can begin 
with a few swarms and soon build up and increase her 
colonies, and in a few years have a large apiary. As the 
bees would only require a small portion of her time, she 
can be engaged in some other employment besides. The 
average yield of a colony in California is 100 pounds of 
honey, besides the increase.” 

A woman who has engaged extensively in bee- 
culture in West Gorham, Maine, says that, when box- 
honey commands a good price, she has averaged yearly 
fifty dollars from each swarm of bees. She goes on to 
say: 

“ There is labor and care required to bring success in 
any enterprise. Bees give ample return for each little 
care and attention bestowed upon them ; and, if neglected 
and permitted to go uncared for, there is corresponding 
loss. I believe that bee-keeping should be encouraged, 
until bees enough are kept to collect the honey now al¬ 
lowed to go to waste, and which, if collected, would add 
millions of dollars to the wealth of the country. Feed 
bees all they require for their own use ; then we can 
secure nearly all they collect from flowers in boxes for 
profit.” 

Bee-keeping in cities has been tried, with results quite 
surprising. “To our astonishment,” says one who has 
experimented in this way, “ we found they did almost as 
well as in the country.” The hives are kept on the 
housetops. All the great cities contain expensive api¬ 
aries now. It is believed that bees will go seven miles 
for their food, so that they visit the parks, gardens and 
yards of the city in search of flowers. 

A National Bee-Keepers’ Association is maintained, 


236 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


and there are minor associations in nearly all the states, 
so great is the interest in this business. 

DAIRYING. 

Nobody disputes that a well-conducted dairy yields a 
good profit, though it involves steady and pretty hard 
work on the part of the manager. Women usually are 
the actual managers of dairies, if not the proprietors. 
The capital necessary to operate one on a large scale is 
considerable. For this reason, and because of the great 
responsibility, women do not often take hold of dairies 
on a large scale, though thousands of them everywhere 
dabble in butter-making on a small scale. How to make 
that kind of thing profitable is what many of them do 
not know, and all want to know. 

Perhaps there is no other branch of rural industry so 
unscientifically conducted as this. Waste, short-sighted¬ 
ness, and misapplied labor characterize it. 

With a view to setting forth some clear ideas on this, 
and helping other women to achieve a success similar to 
her own, Mrs. E. M. Jones, a practical dairy woman, has 
written a little book entitled “Dairying for Profit; or, 
The Poor Man’s Cow,” which cannot fail to help to 
greater success all who consent to be guided by it. She 
presents methods, facts and figures that will bear scrutiny, 
which show how every owner of a cow in this country 
can make more and better butter, at a less cost for keep¬ 
ing and less labor, and how to sell it for the fancy prices 
which only the best butter commands. 

Intelligent study is learning how to get the most 
profit out of eveiy branch of industry by the easiest and 
best methods. Science applied to daily labor makes it 
light and paying. The clumsy old ways were hard and 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


237 


often profitless. Keeping up with the age means as much 
to the humblest worker as it does to the full-fledged 
doctor, writer, or inventor. 

The Orange-Judd Company publish Mrs. Jones’s 
book. 

SILK-CULTURE. 

This is an occupation for women which can be pursued 
at home ; and, although by no means easy—for there is 
no such thing as easy and profitable employment—is in¬ 
teresting and to a reasonable degree remunerative. It 
is practicable wherever the mulberry tree grows or the 
mulberry leaves can be obtained fresh. The eggs of the 
silk worms can be purchased at about $5 an ounce. 
Green cocoons sell at from 50 cents to 75 cents a pound ; 
dried ones, at $1.25 and more, and reeled silk brings 
from $5 to $8 a pound. 

One who has had experience says: 

“ It is very hard work, and no let up. During the 
season of six weeks, the food must be always fresh, and 
the worms breakfast between five and six in the morn¬ 
ing, and want a full meal about ten at night. Perfect 
cleanliness is essential, and that means constant atten¬ 
tion. They must have plenty of fresh air, but no direct 
current, with a uniform temperature of seventy-five 
degrees. 

“ Other leaves mixed with the mulberry may prove 
fatal—peach leaf, for instance. Tobacco in any shape is 
poison. Their enemies are legion. Birds, ants, insects, 
rats, mice, are all anxious to get at them. And so on, 
to say nothing of a dozen different diseases. Besides all 
this, the cocoons are to be ‘ gathered,’ 4 stifled,’ and 
‘ reeled,’ and the mulberry to be cultivated.” 

Four hundred silk mills are in operation in this coun¬ 
try, and as the silk industry grows, as it surely will, 


238 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


being an eminently attractive one for women to engage 
in, many more will be established. 

It is said that a woman, wife of a Chinese emperor, 
about thirty-five hundred years ago, put her maidens to 
work reeling the silk from cocoons and weaving it into 
robes, the most beautiful ever seen. 

The Woman’s Silk Cultural Association of the United 
States has done much to encourage this industry for 
women. 


HOME FRUIT-PRESERVING. 

Here is a home industry which, though by no means 
new, has still great evolvement in it. Some have tried 
it and made money; others found it unprofitable, and 
declared it overdone. Success or failure is probably 
dependent on the business methods employed, or the 
lack of them. The woman who buys fruit at retail city 
prices and “ works it up ” with quantities of sugar, ex¬ 
pecting to sell it advantageously, will be confronted 
with some cold and unpleasant facts quite well known 
in the business world. 

But the woman on the farm, who has fruit of various 
kinds going to waste for lack of a market, can work it 
up in different ways and realize three times the amount 
it would have brought if sold green. She can dry it, 
preserve it with sugar, pickle, make jellies, jams and 
juices. Or if she resides in a village, and wishes to ex¬ 
change leisure for money, she can go to the- farms and 
buy fresh fruit very cheap, having no freightage or mid¬ 
dleman’s profit to pay—get sugar at wholesale rates, cans 
on the same plan, and if she does the work of preserv¬ 
ing the fruit well, and knows how to put it on the 
market she cannot help making a respectable sum. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


239 


It is in “ working it off ” rather than “ working it up ” 
that women are apt to fail. They apply to the nearest 
grocer, and when he tells them that they can’t compete 
in point of cheapness with the great canneries, they go 
home discouraged and give it all up. Those who suc¬ 
ceed do so by dint of making their own market, bestir¬ 
ring themselves to find people who will buy it at some¬ 
thing like its true value. They “ let their intentions 
be known,” even to the extent of putting a line or so in 
both the home and city papers. Frequently they know 
city residents to whom they can apply, who will take a 
supply themselves and mention the opportunity to their 
friends. Everybody knows the superiority of fruit pre¬ 
served in small quantities, by a skillful housewife, over 
that sold from the great factories. The higher price is 
readily paid by people of educated palates. 

The Woman’s Exchange cannot always be depended 
upon to provide a market for home-preserved fruit, 
because too many women are ready to supply them. 
Each one should build up her own list of buyers. After 
a couple of years she will have no trouble about it. 
The orders will come in without solicitation. The 
necessary thing is to let her readiness to receive orders 
be known to as wide a circle as possible. How do people 
who open hotels obtain guests ? By letting it be known 
that they are ready to receive them. How do merchants 
attract buyers from all over the country ? By letting 
it be known that they have good articles to sell. The 
secret of finding a market is, first, having a really good 
thing to sell; next, letting it be known that you have 
it and want to sell it. There is always a demand for a 
really good article of food, and this demand can be found 
by asking, after the manner of business men, 


240 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


The Woman’s Education and Industrial Union of Bos¬ 
ton sometimes sells ten thousand dollars’ worth of home¬ 
made jellies and preserved fruits in a year. The better 
way, however, is for the producer to supply families 
direct, without the intervention of an agent or institution, 
just as they sell butter and eggs. 

This is an occupation which every good housewife 
knows; therefore neither time nor money needs to be 
expended in learning it. It is a family industry in 
which all the members not otherwise occupied can take 
a hand. After the work is done, the application of 
business principles will find a market for it. Every 
woman who does business in a business way helps her¬ 
self and every other woman to independence. On this 
subject one who has tried it says : 

“ These questions of feminine and home industries 
are among the most interesting of the time and will 
increase yearly. They deserve the closest study of the 
fair political economist, and she must be one whose hand 
has been put to the actual labors of which she speaks. 
Practice corrects a thousand theories, lays a host of 
timidities and hesitations, and picks out the helpful 
schemes from the merely brilliant ones.” 

How to make supply and demand acquainted is not, 
after all, an intricate problem. Men of the business 
world solve it every day, with the help of printer’s ink. 

The cheapness of the fruit sold by the great canning 
establishments cuts no figure. There will always be 
people who want the wholesome, home-made articles of 
food, and this class will increase all the time, as tastes 
grow finer and household hygiene better understood. 
Already there is a tolerably wide-spread revolt against 
the flavorless things that emanate from mammoth food- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


241 


producing houses. The “factory” bread, fruit and 
other edibles, lack something which the home-made 
things possess. Whatever this quality may be, the food 
that has it not soon palls upon our taste. Home-made 
food is the only kind of which we never tire. 

In many cases fine grocers keep home-made cake and 
home-made pies, made by private pastry-cooks. Home- 
preserved fruits are quite as readily bought when their 
merits are known. 

The juices of fruits, condensed by long boiling, forms 
a syrup for which there is great demand as a flavoring 
and foundation for cooling drinks. The grape juice, so 
well known to everybody, is but one of the many that 
can be made. 

The old-fashioned apple-butter and peach-butter would 
bear reviving. They preserve the flavor of the fruit 
and all its richness, being made with its own sugar. 

An authority on fruit-preserving says that our own 
good housekeepers can prepare anything in preserved 
fruits, from the juices condensed to a dry-jelly, a Turkish 
method, to the candied cherries and plums which sell 
for a dollar a pound in decorated French boxes. “ Any 
woman who can make currant jelly, can make the con¬ 
tinental fruit confections,” says this authority, “ and 
what adapts them specially to home industry, is that 
they must be made in small quantities to insure per¬ 
fection. The high-priced Levantine conserves are made 
in harems and peasants’ houses, with no other apparatus 
than an earthen cooking vessel and a portable furnace.” 

Don’t let a pound of fruit go to waste. Preserve it 
in some way, and then find buyers for it. Women on 
farms will not regret acting upon this hint, 

16 


242 


WOMEN IN TUN BUSINESS WORLD. 


XXYI. 

BREAKING ROUGH GROUND. 1 

WOMEN HOMESTEADERS IN NEBRASKA. \ 

The following letter, written by Jeremy True, of 
Clearwater, Nebraska, to the New York Sun , is a good 
showing of how women can help themselves if they 
have the spirit of independence in them: 

I saw an article some time ago in the Sun about a 
girl who had been bookkeeper for some firm in Chicago, 
and saved her wages until she had enough money to 
come west and buy a sheep ranch in Montana. 

This story reminded me of the enterprise and good 
common sense of many of the girls in Nebraska, where 
young women, especially those who live in the country, 
have few opportunities of earning large salaries, as this 
Chicago girl had; nevertheless, they earn what they 
can, and it is surprising what some will accomplish, 
even with small earnings. 

The majority of farmers’ daughters teach school at a 
salary of from $18 to $80 per month, and, after deduct¬ 
ing enough for board and clothes, they save money to 
pay their way at some good school or college for a term 
or more, and then teach again. Their fathers never 
think it necessary to mortgage the farm in order to send 
the girls to school, as some fathers do for their sons. 

These girls teach, not only as a means of obtaining 
an education, but they have homesteads and timber 
claims, and improve them as much as their scanty wages 
will allow, I know two girls who are in college. Both 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


243 


are teachers, and both have homesteads. When in 
school they work faithfully, for they know the value of 
time and money better than those whose parents send 
them to school. 

Some girls learn all there is to be learned at district 
schools, and then, instead of going to college, they in¬ 
vest all the money they can spare in cows or calves, 
which they hire kept. This is usually a good invest¬ 
ment, as cattle can be sold readily at almost any time. 

Young women as well as young men see the impor¬ 
tance of obtaining land and making homes for them¬ 
selves ; therefore they take advantage of Uncle Sam’s 
generosity, and get as much land as the law will per¬ 
mit, which is 320 acres, a homestead and timber claim, 
160 acres in each. 

The average female homesteader is business-like and 
not afraid to do any work that falls to her lot. She 
can help mow and stack hay, is a good housekeeper, 
can milk cows, and harness a team as easily as her 
brothers, and I have known a few girls who have built 
the shanties on their homesteads. These shanties, you 
must understand, are cheap, easily constructed houses, 
of a primitive pattern, and usually called a “claim- 
holder.” 

When a girl of this kind marries, she generally con¬ 
siders herself as capable of managing her property as 
she was before she married, and for this reason, she does 
not make as desirable a wife as one who is not quite so 
strong-minded and does not know a bad bargain from a 
good one. 

If a girl who has a homestead marries a man who has 
not, the law says she may keep the land and perfect the 
title in her own name. How much more independent 
a married woman is when she has some property, be it 
much or little ! She does not feel as though she was 
working merely for her board and clothes, but as though 
she had a share in the firm, and some rights equal with 
her husband. In Nebraska it is supposed that woman 
lias evolved far enough out of the state of imbecility to 
be allowed to vote on all questions relating to the pub- 


244 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


lie schools, providing she has taxable property or chil¬ 
dren of a school age. She can also be elected to any 
school office. Several years ago I knew a young woman 
who, when she married, had 320 acres of land and 
several head of cattle. She was only a country school¬ 
teacher, but what little she earned she used judiciously. 

Not only young women avail themselves of home¬ 
steads and timber claims, but widows have the same 
right. Some real old ladies take claims, and after many 
trials and hardships receive a deed therefor. 

Near one of our thriving little towns is a creamery 
conducted by a maiden lady. She is half owner of the 
creamery, and, in addition, owns a homestead and tim¬ 
ber claim. On the homestead she has a small store and 
post-office. In her absence this business is attended to 
by a lady deputy. When she goes out she drives a fine 
horse and carriage, carries a gold watch, and is quite 
aristocratic. 

Any girl over 21 years of age, who has a fair educa¬ 
tion and the ability to use it, can get a home of her own, 
if she chooses, in this state. There are disadvantages 
to contend with here the same as elsewhere, but nothing 
is gained without perseverance. Many eastern girls 
come west to get land, and succeed too. 

STORY OF TWO HOMESTEADERS. 

Seventeen years ago two young women in one of the 
middle states, weary of teaching, determined to find 
some means of self-support which would emancipate 
them from the prison of the school-room. By careful 
reading of the newspapers they found what they sought. 
The story is told in the following extracts from letters 
written by one of them to a friend: 

“ October 27, 1877.—I have gone out westward, 
and entered a claim of 160 acres of Uncle Sam’s land, 
for Nettie and myself. I was reading one day a letter 
in the Press, by a lady, about 4 homes in the country,’ 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


245 


and. as I felt in the mood I sat down and wrote her, and 
in reply she wrote me a delightful letter of twelve pages. 
She is the widow of an officer in the army, and has 
taken a claim, as has also her two sons-in-law. The 
land around there has been mostly taken by people of 
culture, who form by themselves a nice little society. 
She told me of a good claim next to her that I could 
get. So I stood not upon the order of my going, but 
went at once and secured it, and I tell you honestly it 
is the most satisfying transaction of my life. The trip 
in itself was delightful. Every one seemed to think I 
was the pluckiest little woman alive, and I was made 
much over to my heart’s content, and then I got just 
the very piece of land I wanted. There is a lovely little 
lake on it, with a pearly beach where we are going to 
have our home built. The land is all prairie. Others 
have gone there and succeeded on less than we will 
have. Of course, there are disagreeable things in con¬ 
nection with it,—hard work, flies, mosquitoes, etc., but 
I think the consciousness of having a home of my own 
will sustain me through it all. 1 have to think up a 
plan for my little house. We will start up in April. 

44 December 30, 1877.—Our little house is finished. 
It stands on the east side of the lake about ten rods 
back, and commands a beautiful view. Furniture con¬ 
sists of a bed, three chairs and a kitchen stove. We 
are going to save our money for more important things. 
Nettie writes that she has lots of spoons, forks, dishes, 
napkins, etc., so we shall have everything we need. I 
am making up unbleached muslin bedding for our plow¬ 
man. You should see the lovely hassocks I am con¬ 
structing out of some scraps of carpet, a red one and a 
green one. We intend to make a table, cupboard, etc., 
out of store-boxes after we get them. I expect it sounds 
incredible, but I would rather begin that way than to 
have a beautiful, improved place given me. There is, I 
think, a greater pleasure in doing than possessing. 
Putting forth effort has its own reward aside from the 
substantial results it brings. 


246 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


44 November 11,1877.—There is something delightful 
to me in taking a piece of the virgin soil, and making it 
blossom as the rose—a place to call my yery own, where 
I can receive my friends under my own vine and fig- 
tree. There are plenty of ways of entertaining them— 
visiting the improvements, riding over the prairies, fish¬ 
ing in the lakes and shooting game. I know, of course, 
that when it comes to driving the reaper all day, cooking 
harvest dinners, digging in the garden, and all the rest 
of the hard work we shall have to do, we will not feel so 
enthusiastic. I think of these things often, and yet I 
am happy. 

“ I wish you could see the houses or tiny cabins of 
some of the young married women who have been 
brought up to do little else than play on the piano. 
The sight is doleful, I assure you. 

“ How pitiful and unpleasant is inefficiency ; and is it 
not strange that any human being should think that the 
more helpless and useless a woman is the more attractive 
she must be ? Could the human mind be farther astray 
than when it harbors such a thought? Isn’t it plain to 
be seen that if every one would strive to be as useful to 
the world as possible—efficient in all places and under all 
circumstances—poverty would be swept away forever ? 

“ Some wealthy families are in the neighborhood; but 
they only spend the summers here. We have three 
market towns on the railroad, within easy distance. I 
have had two offers of marriage from wealthy and fine- 
looking men since I came ; but I wouldn’t give up my 
claim and project of making a home myself for a king 
on his throne. People call us 4 the grangers,’ and 
tease us dreadfully about our farming. 

44 May 28,1878.—I arrived here to stay on the 23d of 
April, and have been fixing up the house, making gar¬ 
den, getting acquainted with our neighbors, etc. Nettie 
came two weeks later. She teaches school eight miles 
away, and goes and comes on horseback every day. 

44 It is windy this afternoon, and vhite-caps are foam¬ 
ing all over the lake. The ducks have all fled to their 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


247 


covert among the rushes; but the loons, sure prophets 
of stormy weather, are reveling among the waves. I 
wish you could see the snow-white cranes walking 
daintily around the lake in their quest for frogs. They 
are very shy, and old settlers say they will not be here 
another year. You have no idea what a rush for land 
there is in this state. People seem perfectly frantic to 
secure anything at all. 

“ I will confess to having felt a little homesick. It is 
testing the strength of our ‘ back-bone,’ but do not 
harbor the suspicion for a moment that we feel dis¬ 
couraged. It is just the newness of the thing that takes 
me down a little. We are surrounded by the best of 
neighbors, and are prospering beyond our expectations. 
We are getting along finely. We have selected the 
site for our grove. It is to be on the north side of the 
stable and garden. 

“We climb up on the woodshed on pleasant evenings 
and watch the sun set over the prairies, and plan how 
we will have things. I hardly know how to describe 
our cabin. We have been obliged to neglect it in 
attending to the garden, so that it does not look as my 
fancy painted it. We have no cellar yet, and things 
are so crowded. Our main room contains a stove, cup¬ 
board, table, bureau, sewing machine, six chairs, etc. 
Nettie has brought quite a library of books, which, with 
our pictures, brighten up the rough walls somewhat. 
Our attic bedroom is just high enough to allow us to 
stand erect in the cone of the roof. It contains our 
bed, trunks and dry goods generally. The woodshed 
holds our agricultural implements, boxes, barrels, etc. 
As soon as we get the cellar dug, and our stove in the 
woodshed, we are going to fix the carpet (a nice rag 
one Nettie brought), and have it to lay down on Sun¬ 
days, when the scholars are not here, and we want to 
be fine. Perhaps I forgot to tell you that I, too, have 
a little school of very small children who meet in our 
house every forenoon. There is no public school near 
enough for them to attend, so my college is a purely 


248 


WOMEN IN TUE BUSINESS WORLD. 


private one. Their fathers pay me by breaking our 
ground, and doing other necessary out-door work too 
hard for us to do. You see we adopt the old-fashioned 
plan of exchanging work—which is one form of co¬ 
operation, and a capital one it is, too. You help me 
and I will help you, is the spirit of it. 

“ We have things enough—too many, I fear. I had a 
present of a beautiful set of glassware before I started, 
and our table looks quite decent. You would imagine 
that we keep very clean ; but with this black soil, hard 
lake-water, and little time to devote to housekeeping, 
we are far from being immaculate. 

“ The mosquitoes have begun to devour us already. 
They are perfectly terrible by day and by night. Our 
house furniture is considered quite fine. 

“ November, 1878.—We have come down to C- 

to spend the winter. Nettie teaches and I sew. We 
arranged to have the horse, oxen, cow and chickens 
boarded for the winter. In the spring we hope to have 
a reunion on the farm again. 

“ I cannot say that we have achieved very much; but 
we have an object in life, and are healthier and happier 
than we were as homeless teachers. We have a nice 
flock of chickens. We traded our clumsy wagon off 
for a cow, and will look up a lighter one in the spring, 
also a handcart in which to haul vegetables and other 
cartable stuff. Both of us have had rheumatism in our 
shoulders from carrying heavy loads—the only imprudent 
thing we have done. Tree seeds in generous quantities 
have been given us, and we can buy them cheap too. 

“ May 2, 1879.—Here we are at home on the prairie 
again. With planting and scraping acquaintance with 
our old friends, to say nothing of gardening, setting 
hens, picketing our stock, and other airy, fairy occupa¬ 
tions, we scarcely have time to breathe. Nettie com¬ 
menced our district school yesterday, in a little house 
across the lake, about half a mile away. From her 
teaching last winter down at the city she saved enough 
to buy the nicest little buggy on the prairie. 



WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


249 


“ Fishing and dancing parties have begun for the 
season. We have to run out every once in a while and 
chase the wild geese and cranes off our wheat. 

“ June 15, 1879.—Our little kitchen has only a sand 
floor—no boards. A mother-hen hovers her brood in 
one corner; a hen sitting on eggs occupies another, a 
barrel of water another, and our garden tools the fourth. 

“We are having ever so good a time this summer. 
There are parties and picnics plenty, and the commu¬ 
nity is not without some gentlemen, as well as ladies, of 
culture. Our Fourth of July preparations are immense. 
I think I have found a man who will make a splendid 
leader in a reading club. I am determined to get that 
started this summer if possible. 

“ We have heard nothing from the grasshoppers, and 
I trust we shall not. Our crops are looking well. The 
cut worms and potato bugs are doing some damage to 
our garden, but nothing alarming. 

“November 10, 1879.—It has been a busy summer, 
and there is much to do yet. I never knew before 
what it was to never have one leisure moment. What 
with breakers and cutters, and stackers and threshers, 
and men to fix the house, etc., we are kept so busy from 
morning till night we have scarcely time to breathe. 

“ I wish you could see one of our parties. We dance 
one moment with wealth, wit and wisdom, and the next 
with their opposites.” 

These young women homesteaders went the inevitable 
way of handsome, intelligent and efficient young women 
everywhere. They married; but not until their home¬ 
stead was well improved. Then they sold out, realiz¬ 
ing comfortably on their investment. Better than that, 
they had demonstrated their ability to carry through 
difficult undertakings, to stand alone, to create some¬ 
thing out of hard conditions. In short, they proved, as 
others have done, that a woman can do what she will. 
They paid the price of success and won. 


250 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


XXVII. 

DAILY BREAD. 

VIENNA KITCHENS. 

Women possessed of executive ability would surely 
do well to establish in large towns and cities, restau¬ 
rants after the style of the People’s Kitchens in Vienna. 
These institutions are as yet an experiment there, but 
so far have been very successful. At these kitchens 
meals for 40,000 or 60,000 persons are prepared daily 
—ample and excellent meals too. The price of a din¬ 
ner, consisting of soup, meat, bread, vegetables, pudding 
and coffee, with fruit or cheese, is about 3J pence in 
English money. A breakfast of coffee, vegetable soup, 
bread, ham and eggs may be had for 2 pence. _A supper 
of cold meat, bread, vegetables and pudding, with tea 
or coffee, costs 2j pence. The large consumption of 
food, which allows it to be bought in cheap markets, is, 
of course, one of the causes enabling the establishments 
to maintain such low prices. A more important cause 
is to be found in the perfection of their organization 
and management. 

It is well known that food can be supplied at exceed¬ 
ingly low prices where the demand is large and steady. 
As a general rule, the cost of any given article depends 
on the quantities in which it is manufactured, and to 
this rule cooked food is no exception. The smaller the 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 251 

scale on which the business of a restaurant is conducted 
the higher must be the keeper’s charges if he is to 
extract a living out of it for himself. Where much 
larger quantities of food are cooked at the samo time 
the cost of their preparation becomes diminished to a 
mere fraction of that of the raw material, and charges 
can be lessened accordingly. 

Kitchens on this plan, if well organized and managed, 
would be a blessing to all classes of people, and could 
be arranged to accommodate all classes, by grading the 
dining-rooms. This has been accomplished in a measure, 
though with a higher scale of prices, at the oldest res¬ 
taurant in New York city. They serve thousands of 
people daily, giving them excellent food, and plenty of 
it. Some of the rooms are open all night. Some have 
very plain table service, with the food served in a primi¬ 
tive, help-yourself style, but what is served is quite as 
good as that in the more pretentious dining-rooms where 
the napery and china are correct, and the charges 
higher. The idea has money in it for the woman or 
man who can put it into form. 

The New England Kitchen of Boston is after this 
plan. It sells $20,000 worth of food a year, scientifi¬ 
cally cooked food, too. 

travelers’ luncheons. 

How often do women alight from railroad cars to pick 
up something to eat at some dingy little lunch-counter, 
and wonder why, with all our boasted progress, that 
institution never advances ? Any woman with a shadow 
of talent for cooking and giving to her table an appetiz¬ 
ing daintiness, sees at a glance how the lunch-counter 
could be improved with profit to the proprietor and 


252 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


comfort to the traveler. Yet it seems to be the last 
thing in civilization to fall under uplifting influences. 

Since it may be set down as a fact, undoubted and 
unquestioned, that good food will always be bought if 
hungry people know where to find it, the marvel is that 
women anxious to earn money have not turned their 
attention to the lunch-counter and raised it out of its 
stagnant degradation to a position which commands 
the respect of its patrons. Money is waiting in 
many pockets for the women who will do this suc¬ 
cessfully. 

Nor need their efforts be confined to the lunch-rooms 
which deface railroad stations. Near every factory, 
shop or school, wherever men and women are employed 
and need food at intervals, an improved lunch-room 
would have patrons. A new hill of fare and new methods 
must take the place of the old. Instead of stale coffee, 
it is possible in these days of gas, gasoline and coal-oil 
stoves, to have fresh coffee. It is just as easy to have 
hot milk, in a pretty and clean little pitcher, as to have 
it cold, in cracked and repulsive receptacles. The dry, 
butterless, thick, choking rolls, split in the middle and 
burdened with a piece of stringy ham that go by the name 
of sandwiches, should be abolished in favor of genuine 
sandwiches made from home-made bread, cut in conven¬ 
ient size, buttered and filled with chopped meats, 
seasoned and moistened until it is delicious in taste. 
Plates of home-made bread, with pats of fresh, sweet 
butter ready for instant application, or bread already 
buttered, English style, could be ready just in time, 
and not long enough ahead to become dry and unpalat¬ 
able. 

In warm weather the fat-soaked doughnuts should 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


253 


make way for beaten biscuit, made fresh every other day. 
Cottage cheese, dressed with fresh cream, would be in 
great demand. Parker-house rolls, home-made, could 
be freshly provided at different intervals, and the shiny, 
tough ones from the bake-shop excluded entirely. A pan 
of hot gingerbread would be grateful to the traveler, 
whose stomach revolts at sight of the dry iced cake which 
has been under the wire screen, lo, these many days. 
Without number are the improvements which could 
be made by the woman with a knowledge of scientific 
cookery and a bit of genius for management. She 
could send the traveler on his way rejoicing, and 
she would have cause to rejoice, too, for his money 
would be jingling in her pockets, and she would have 
the blessed consciousness of knowing that he had not 
paid it without receiving an honest return. She could 
make her little place attractive to the eye by means of 
clean and decent napery and tableware, and would be 
a true benefactor of her race. 

All this is not difficult of accomplishment; it needs 
exactly the business qualities that insure success every¬ 
where. Any woman who determines to do it, and 
perseveres in the determination, cannot fail. There is 
room in this branch of industry for thousands of ener¬ 
getic women. 

Another phase of the lunch question which has been 
demonstrated as practicable by a few women of business 
sense here and there, consists in the preparation of a 
dainty repast of different things, all the best of their kind 
neatly packed in paper boxes or small wooden baskets, 
and sold at 25 cents each to travelers who do not care to 
eat in the lunch or dining-rooms. This plan has great 
possibilities in it. 


254 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


SUPPLYING COOKED FOOD. 

An opportunity for capable women to make money 
exists in every town and is not seized by any one. 
This consists in supplying, at fixed intervals, certain kinds 
of cooked food to persons who do light housekeeping. 
The benevolent societies, so far, are the only ones who 
have taken advantage of this method of increasing their 
exchequer. That it could be made a profitable private 
business is evident. Let it be understood that certain 
dishes will be ready every afternoon at a certain hour. 
The dishes to be different every day. If they are well 
cooked, and destitute of the objectionable restaurant 
flavor, they will always be readily bought, even by 
families who keep house on a large scale. Orders could 
be taken ahead for the start of such an enterprise, which 
would be a great convenience to any community or 
neighborhood. The work would be of a decidedly 
private nature. Even the delivering of the goods need 
not depend upon the producer at first, as the buyer 
could send for them at whatever hour they were needed. 
Baked beans, roast beef, salads of different kinds, hot 
rolls, fresh molasses cake, cottage cheese, desserts, and 
many other wholesome, saleable edibles could be in 
readiness every afternoon at the hour most persons dine 
or sup. Any woman who can cook and has a place in 
which to operate, can start such a business. If properly 
managed, a good income can be got out of it in city or 
country town. 

OPERATING BAKERIES. 

Improving on old ways in doing business often proves 
as fortunate as inventing something new. Following 
old lines never leads to brilliant success, because public 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


255 


taste is moving on, whether the men and women who 
cater to it are aware of it or not. 

Almost any business can win favor, if made attractive. 
New ways of doing old things can always be thought of, 
and generally bring good results. 

Who ever enters a bakery without thinking that 
a few concessions to the tastes of the refined would be 
profitable to the proprietor ; that a new departure in 
the kind and quality of breads offered would bring a 
rush of customers ? Yet hundreds and thousands of 
these places keep right on in the way they did two 
or three decades ago, and are content with moderate 
patronage when they might have as great as they could 
supply. 

A woman in San Francisco acted on the idea that 
bakeries could keep up with the times if they would, 
and was rewarded abundantly. Her husband was a 
young physician, struggling to get practice. Patients 
came infrequently, but expenses went on regularly. 

Seeing the inevitable end of the cash on hand, she 
bestirred herself to see what she could do to help out. 

She knew she could bake delicious bread, rolls and 
pastry, with none of the time-worn bakery flavor about 
them. A poor dying little cake-shop was just around 
the corner. The sight and smell of it were usually 
sufficient to turn any but the most heroic customer 
away. 

This the little woman rented and put in order. She 
had it cleaned thoroughly and fixed up the window in 
a way that every one could see at a glance that new and 
capable hands were in charge; 

She did her own baking, and did not follow the stale 
old forms either. Such bread, biscuit, rusk, rolls, cakes, 


256 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


cookies and pies as she manufactured, had never before 
been seen in that part of the city. They went off on 
wings. Not content with the trade of the neighborhood, 
she took pains to inform her friends and others that she 
was ready to serve them. The announcement excited 
interest and curiosity, two active agents in making pat¬ 
ronage. Her bread and pastry were bought and pro¬ 
nounced good. The “ home-made ” taste of them was 
delicious to bakery-worn palates. 

Then the novelty of an educated and elegant young 
woman operating a bread-and-cake shop was a great card 
in itself. The pride she took in it had its effect on the 
minds of her customers. They saw that, instead of being 
ashamed of her business, or thinking it could lower her 
socially, she dignified it. In short she flung herself into 
it, heart and soul, and made money and glory too. She 
became more sought after by her friends than ever, 
because she had made an individual of herself, instead of 
remaining a mere model of ordinariness. There was no 
apologizing for her business, and there were no tales 
about “ better days ” to excite people’s contempt. 

In two months she had cleared $700; in four months 
$1800. In two years she had several thousand dollars 
in bank, had enlarged the bakery, taught a corps of 
assistants, taken in a partner and needed only to give a 
little of her time to the management of it. Besides all 
this she had educated the taste of the neighborhood to a 
point that revolted against the miserable stuff furnished 
in the cheap bread-shops, and demanded the best. 
That was quite a step in hygienic education. 

Meantime her husband got a first-rate practice, which 
he owed in a large measure to the fame his wife 
acquired in her business enterprise, making it clearer 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


257 


than ever that “ Heaven helps those who help them¬ 
selves. 

GROCERIES. 

The ownership and management of groceries is a 
business women are not much given to, so far; but there 
is no reason why they should not go into it. A woman- 
grocer in a western state who has been established since 
1860, has a business worth $80,000 a year. A house of 
fine groceries is an attractive as well as a profitable busi¬ 
ness, if the credit system is not allowed too much scope. 

COOKING-SCHOOLS. 

These modern institutions are great factors in the 
betterment of mankind. The science of cooking is the 
greatest of all sciences, for on its excellence we depend 
for the physical strength which enables us to get the 
most out of our bodies and brains. The women who 
teach it are benefactors of their race. They have done 
wonders in giving all women a higher sense of the dig¬ 
nity of the work in the home, and in raising the standard 
of food, and getting the most out of materials. They 
have made it plain that simple food is, if properly pre¬ 
pared, as appetizing as the most costly. 

More cooking-schools are needed. There should be a 
permanent one in every town. It would, without doubt 
be well attended, if well conducted. The largest in the 
world is in London, and Mrs. A. B. Marshall is at its 
head. She sometimes gives object lessons in arranging 
suppers for one hundred or more guests, preparing every 
thing herself, in elaborate menus of forty dishes. 

This is a great lesson in execution, as well as in cooking. 

17 


258 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


When system and science work together in the kitchen 
the world is moving to very cheering music. 

The first demonstrative lectures in this country on 
cooking were given by a Frenchman, a cook, who came 
to New York and Boston twenty years ago for that 
purpose. The women of Boston never lost sight of the 
idea, and never rested until they organized a school of 
their own. This school has been incorporated, as has 
been the one established in Milwaukee. These two 
are the only incorporated institutions of the kind in 
America, being legally qualified to graduate pupils and 
grant diplomas. 

The system of study is graded, beginning with the 
making and care of a fire—still an occult science—the 
uses of various utensils, and the simple forms of cook¬ 
ing. The course includes the most elaborate cookery, 
and does not omit the preparation of food for invalids. 

As the health and comfort of every family largely 
depend on the skillful management of the kitchen, the 
cooking-school is one of the most important institutions 
ever established. 


women’s exchanges. 

Since the first New York Exchange for women’s work 
was established a few years ago, nearly a hundred others 
have been opened in the United States, and the idea 
has been acted upon in Europe in several cities. Origin¬ 
ally the exchange was an institution behind which in¬ 
digent gentlewomen with false pride took refuge. It 
was noticeably benevolent in its intentions, appearance 
and methods, and was largely in the nature of an appeal 
to the generous or opulent. 

Sometimes this appeal was both pathetic and humor- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


259 


ous. The pitiful little efforts of the class it protected 
from the eyes of the great public whose patronage was 
anonymously asked for were painful evidences of the 
utter ignorance of their manufacturers of what consti¬ 
tuted a marketable commodity. Quantities of things 
nobody wanted to buy and that would do nobody any 
good who might buy them, were offered at absurdly 
high prices, and everything in the nature of business 
principles openly violated and defied. 

It was generally understood that the exchange existed 
because certain gentlewomen existed whose means of 
subsistence were sadly limited, and must be eked out 
by selling antimacassars, illuminated texts and em¬ 
broidered pin-cushions. No attempt was made to meet 
the public’s demand ; its philanthropic instincts only 
were appealed to. The spirit of the work was openly 
charitable. 

Time, however, brought wisdom even to the perpe¬ 
trators of antimacassars and pin-cushions; and little by 
little most of the Exchanges dropped their appealing 
attitude and fixed themselves more upon a rational 
business basis, and inasmuch as they did this were they 
rewarded with increased patronage and respect. 

The farther they have traveled from the benevolent 
idea, the wider their sphere of usefulness and larger 
their income. They are the nucleus of what, properly 
managed, may become great centers of information as 
well as exchange for every variety of women’s work, 
from the humblest to the highest. They should em¬ 
body bureaus of employment which would supply every 
demand for work in which women are engaged, or 
for articles they manufacture. 

This idea has partly been adopted by the Ladies’ Club 


260 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


and Co-operative Exchange of New York, which, in ad¬ 
dition to selling goods on commission and taking orders 
for various kinds of work, supplies teachers to schools 
and furnishes guides to show strangers about the me¬ 
tropolis. Women’s hotels, where women traveling alone 
could stay safely and at a reasonable price, might be 
added. In some instances restaurants and lunch-rooms, 
toilet-rooms and waiting-rooms have been features 
which brought a good monetary return. In one city 
the profit for a year on the lunch-room of a Woman’s 
Exchange alone was nearly ten thousand dollars. The 
New York Exchange has disposed of over a million dol¬ 
lars’ worth of articles since it was established. 

There is growth in the exchange. It has grown al¬ 
ready since the first ones were established, and will 
eventually be a great medium through which women of 
all grades pf ability will make their wants known, and 
to which all in need of woman’s service or handiwork 
in whatever capacity will apply. 

SPECIAL FOOD FOP INVALIDS. 

From tlie New York Sun. 

If a physician nowadays in New York wants an in¬ 
valid to have a special kind of food cooked in a special 
way, he does not have to plunge himself into the depth 
of despair in an effort to impress the family cook with 
the manner in which the dainty dish is to be prepared, 
cooked and served. He writes a prescription for the 
food just as he does for the medicine, and it is as accu¬ 
rately compounded. This happy release in such mat¬ 
ters from the limitations of the “plain” cook has been 
wrought by the pluck, wit, and skill of a woman who 
is known as “ Mrs. Kate Teachman.” That, in addition 
to being a woman in trade, she happens to be a lady 
and a member of a wealthy family, who, for reasons 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


261 


which concern herself, wished to make her own living, 
are facts which she does not make part of her capital. 
She believed that there was an opportunity to make a 
profitable business of supplying delicacies for the sick, 
and three years ago began the enterprise which has 
grown into an extensive success. 

“ Mrs. Teachman,” in a conversation, said that the 
idea was suggested to her through her own experience 
in preparing delicacies for an invalid in her own family. 
She found that she had to do this if the patient she was 
interested in was to have properly-cooked delicacies at 
the time when they were wanted. “Many articles I 
wanted,” she said, “could be obtained from the 
Woman’s Exchange, but it was necessary to order them 
a day in advance,, and that was not always convenient. 
It was not always that a French chef could or would 
prepare just what I wanted in the way I wanted, and 
so I made the delicacies myself and developed some skill 
in the work. When I determined to start this enter¬ 
prise to supply such delicacies as wealthy invalids 
wanted, and which from my experience I knew they 
could not always obtain, I rented two little rooms here 
on Forty-second Street, where I began the preparation 
of such articles as there is the greatest demand for, and, 
under the name I am known by in my business, sent 
out circulars announcing what I was prepared to do. 
My business grew and succeeded, and from the first day 
I have had nothing but pleasant experiences in 4 trade.’ 
I consider my work a lady’s occupation, and, quite apart 
from my success, it has been an enjoyment to me.” 

This was said in the parlor office of the “Home 
Bureau,” as the institution is called. The bright, pret¬ 
tily furnished office, furnished with desks, easy-chairs, 
rugs, and hangings, was a surprise to the reporter, who 
had a notion that lie would find the Home Bureau a 
store stocked with canned goods and patented jellies. 
Back of this office are the kitchen and pantries and 
packing-rooms, two of the smaller of which were all the 
original space occupied. In the kitchen are two large 


262 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


gas ranges, each capable of cooking anything from a 
batch of bread to a pint of soup. 

In the morning certain things, like beef, mutton, and 
chicken broth, are prepared in quantities sufficient to 
last only through the day, and thereafter the ranges are 
occupied in cooking special dishes prepared to order, 
and these include nearly a score of other broths, a dozen 
purees, beverages ranging from oatmeal caudle with 
•wine to flaxseed lemonade, puddings, jellies, and any¬ 
thing else an imaginative physician or a capricious 
invalid may suggest. Orders are filled for Newport, 
Lakewood, and other resorts, and sterilized milk is 
shipped even to Europe and San Domingo to New York 
invalids who have started away with a supply which 
they want renewed. Of course if you want that sort of 
thing done in that way you pay for it; you pay, for 
instance, 65 cents a pint for broths, 75 cents a pint for 
pur6e, from 50 cents to 65 cents per half pint for jellies, 
and from 50 cents to $4 a quart for beverages. If you 
are boarding, and want home-made bread, you can have 
it for 25 cents a loaf, chopped chicken sandwiches for 
25 cents, and scraped beef sandwiches for 15 cents. 

The jars and bottles in which broths, jellies, sterilized 
milk, and beverages are sent out are first scoured and 
then kept for use in a dust-proof glass case, and all the 
pots, pans, and kettles are hanging up in the sun. It 
makes you hungry to go into that kitchen. 

Two years ago “ Mrs. Teachman ” opened a trained 
nurses’ registry. “ That naturally grew to be a part of 
my business,” she said. “ Many people coming to me 
for invalid’s food made inquiry for experienced nurses, 
and through supplying them incidentally I came to 
make it a part of my business.” 

It is essential when a nurse is wanted that the order 
be filled immediately, and to have a known source of 
supply. “ Mrs. Teachman,” a year ago, started, on 
West Forty-first Street, a nurses’ club eligible only to 
graduate nurses who stand high in their profession. 
The club has sleeping-apartments exclusively for mem- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


263 


bers, reading and writing rooms, and a library. “ It is 
quite like a man’s club,” said the manager. 

The Home Bureau is said to be the only institution 
in this country devoted exclusively to the preparation 
of delicacies for invalids. 


264 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


xxvm. 

WOMAN’S HISTORIC WEAPON. 

THE NEEDLE. 

“ The needle,” says a philanthropist, “ has slain more 
than the sword. I ask in the name of all the past history 
what toil on earth is more severe, exhausting and tre¬ 
mendous than the toil of the needle to which women are 
subjected?” 

None. With this little weapon women have stood off 
the wolves, hunger and sin, through the centuries. It 
was the first arm taken up, and it never will be laid 
down, for the business of clothing the body will endure 
forever, or while bodies endure. Year by year, -however, 
the wail of womanhood sacrificed by it becomes louder 
and more agonizing. The sewing-machine came, but it 
did not lift the load, it only added “ the crush of the 
wheel to the stab of the needle,” and though it did in 
one hour the work of ten, instantly it became the cus¬ 
tom to put ten times more stitches on everything than 
formerly—so the gain was canceled at one wave of 
Fashion’s hand. 

Never was there a time when the vast numbers of women 
who ply the needle were so meagerly paid; and never 
was there a time when skilled sewing women commanded 
so high a price. These are two remarkable co-existent 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


265 


facts, which certainly contain a clew to what is needed 
to adjust matters. 

The needlewomen who toil for pittances do a kind 
of work in which only rudimentary skill is needed; and 
their name is legion. So vast is this untrained army it 
is no exaggeration to say that its members devour each 
other. By overcrowding the ranks they reduce the pay 
to a mere nothing, and all suffer for it. From the pits 
of misery where they work their cries continually rise. 
From the other side, from the heights where shines 
perfected labor, the call is always for more help at good 
pay. The dressmaker who understands her business 
thoroughly is overrun with work at prices that would 
have staggered people in our “ grandfather’s day.” The 
capable seamstress, who can cut and fit children’s garments 
and remodel gowns, cannot begin to respond to the calls 
she has for her services at two dollars a day and board. 
And this is the case in towns and villages as well as in 
cities. 

Does not this give rise to the suspicion that efficiency 
would cure the malady from which the sewing-woman 
suffers ? If she would learn to do household sewing, 
which includes dressmaking, thoroughly, she would not 
have woes. That would thin out the overcrowded ranks 
of the plain operators and give rise to better wages for 
the remainder. The trouble with the underpaid seam¬ 
stress in factories and sweat-shops is that in youth she 
was given no education worthy of the name in the handi¬ 
craft by which she now earns her bread. Pressed by 
necessity, she rushed into the swarming ranks of plain 
sewers and there remains until death releases her, which 
sometimes is not long. 

Everywhere there is room for more dressmakers ; hut 


266 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 

they must be finished in their business and not mere 
botchers. Women who can enter a family and fix up 
the garments of its members nicely are almost unattain¬ 
able in great cities. A business woman hired a seam¬ 
stress to make her a plain black silk house-gown. She 
was ten days making it and received two dollars a day, 
and then it was a failure. Of course that particular 
seamstress was never employed in that house again ; 
and her experience in other houses could not but be of 
a similar character. 

The truth is she was doing family sewing without 
ever having learned how. The result was, for her 
employer, ruin of material, loss of money and loss of faith; 
for her, loss of future opportunities. Efficiency on the 
part of a greater number would burst the sewing-woman’s 
bonds. Learning to do the best work in the best way 
would make her free and independent. 

HOW THEY ESTABLISHED A MILLINERY BUSINESS. 

Here is a little newspaper story of how two young girls 
in New York went into business. 

“ You see,” Polly began, “ when papa died and we dis¬ 
covered his life-insurance had run out, there wfls but $200 
between ourselves and the street. We were awfully 
young and ignorant, and only because people had said 
I showed taste in trimming my own hats did I happen 
to think of it as a profession. 

“ Now, don’t you fool yourself with the belief that any 
amateur work goes down with the public,” her sister 
interrupted, “ for it doesn’t.” 

“ Of course not,” Polly continued. “ But our first 
move was to get into a fashionable millinery establish¬ 
ment as apprentices. For two years we studied the 
trade, worked for next to nothing, and figured continu- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


267 


ally on some way of bettering our condition. I seemed 
to be pretty clever at thinking up new ideas, and, just 
to be friendly, trimmed hats for every woman in 
our boarding-house. They even brought them to us 
from outside, till finally a woman in Jersey saw what I 
could do, and wrote, offering to pay me for buying and 
trimming her a bonnet suitable for half mourning. I did 
it, my taste pleased her, and before long every moment 
out of office hours was taken up filling private country 
orders.” 

“ But,” observed the visitor, “ how did you ever dare 
throw over your steady pay for an uncertainty ? ” 

“ It was pretty cheeky,” Polly replied, “ and we 
would never have had the courage if an old friend of 
our father’s hadn’t offered us the use of a room on Forty- 
second Street. We were to have it free of rent two days 
in every week, and then I tell you we just hustled to 
get patronage. We sent out circulars to every woman 
we knew; we called on them personally, and were weeks 
getting ready for our opening. That function consisted 
of six trimmed bonnets and a cup of tea for all those 
good enough to come. Peggy and I wore our best frocks, 
were hospitable as we knew how to be, and begged our 
guests to help advertise us.” 

“ And they did it nobly,” Peggy struck in, “ so that 
pretty soon our commissions brought in a tidy little sum 
every week. We made it a rule to study the individual 
tastes of our customers, and never let a hat-box go home 
without a civil note of thanks. These things sound 
like trifles, but they seemed to please the people we 
catered for, so that day by day our orders increased.” 

“ Then we conceived the idea of going out as seam¬ 
stresses do by the day,” said Polly, resuming her narra¬ 
tive ; “ only we trimmed hats, and in time that led up to 
regular season visits to the little towns about New York. 
This autumn and winter we have been more prosper¬ 
ous than ever, and, as Peggy told you, our Orange trip 
has netted us over $900. The way we do is to go to a 
place for three or four days, and, while there, visit our 


268 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 

patrons in their own homes. They turn over to us all 
their old flowers, feathers, etc., which we look through, 
selecting those that are worth carrying back to New 
York and freshening up for them. They, the patrons, 
are relieved of all trouble. We make detailed notes 
of just what they wish done with the stuff. At the 
same time we drum up trade and solicit new orders. 
I wish you could have seen the mass of half-worn finery, 
ticketed and packed in big pasteboard boxes, that we 
brought home and are busy even now working up into 
second-best hats for our customers. We secure feathers, 
press, cut, and alter frames, stiffen and smooth crumpled 
ribbons and do up crushed velvet almost like new. 
This is the part of the business that pays best, for when a 
woman does not have to buy new materials she is willing 
to pay liberally for the labor of doing them over.” 

“ And then, you see,” said Peggy, “ Polly and I at¬ 
tend every opening of fashionable millinery in New 
York City. I am pretty handy with my pencil, and can, 
in a few strokes, jot down all we need to guide us in 
copying novelties. Later on I elaborate these sketches, 
mail them to the country, and rarely fail to get new 
commissions in consequence. We keep excellent 
photographs of our patrons. We study their style and 
coloring, make ourselves useful to them in ~a hundred 
ways, and very seldom lose a customer.” 

HEAD-WEAR AND ITS OPPORTUNITIES. 

We have schools of dressmaking, why not of milli¬ 
nery? The woman who could give lectures on the 
principles of artistic head-wear, and practical instruction 
would have a large following. The millinery shops do 
not give an opportunity for more than a small percent¬ 
age of those desiring it to learn the art. 

Schools would accomplish the matter much more 
quickly, and with broader results. A few such institu- 


Women in the business would. 


269 


tions, well conducted, would do wonders in improving 
tlie taste of the public. 

The part of the art of dressing well which pertains 
to head-wear derives its inspiration from the French. 
She who possesses the touch and taste of the daughters 
of France could make a school of millinery as famous 
and as helpful as ever was school of high art. Hun¬ 
dreds would matriculate for the education in taste they 
would receive, who never dreamed of putting their 
knowledge to professional use. 

The true milliner should be something more than a 
mere fashion-follower. She should know how to make her 
^customer look her handsomest. This art will pay well. 

The head-wear reformer has not yet appeared. There 
is work and money for her when she comes, if she 
brings something artistic for the adornment of the heads 
of women. Dress-reformers have not yet ventured on 
this delicate ground. They have had enough to do to 
wrestle with the vital point of the length of skirts, and 
the abrogation of the corset. Now let the bonnet- 
reformer appear, sickle in hand, and reap in fields ripe 
for the harvest. 

A wealthy woman who had earned every dollar she 
possessed in millinery work, says: 

“ I know of no better business than millinery for a 
woman who has any talent for it at all. Even if she 
have but little skill at first, more will come to her 
if she tries to acquire it, and is in earnest about her 
profession. I am a classical scholar. I graduated 
with honors from one of the best colleges, but I 
have never been sorry that I devoted myself to 
making bonnets rather than pursuing some of the phan¬ 
toms women think they must give chase to, if they 
are educated. My education has been quite as much 


270 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


benefit and as great a pleasure to me in this calling as it 
could have been had I written books or chiseled statues. 

44 As for 4 society,’ I have the best, and have never 
heard of any lines being drawn upon me because I 
make and sell bonnets. The cowardice of women who 
are afraid to do this or afraid to do that, lest they lose 
caste is laughable to me. It is those who have no 
assured position who are most afraid. They are always 
indifferently educated, too, you will find out. Thor¬ 
ough education rids the mind of all such foolishness. 

44 Years ago, when the milliner was a poverty-stricken 
being, bleaching old straw bonnets in a barrel with 
sulphur, she was not much sought after as an ornament 
to society, I dare say. Now, when she holds her own 
in the business world, and is useful in a large way, 
society—all she cares of it—is ready enough to be nice 
to her. Besides, a woman in business is really 4 in 
society ’ all the time. That is, she constantly comes in 
contact with others, and so has less need of that which 
calls itself 4 society.’ In fact, she could not give much 
time to it—if it begged her on its knees. That sort of 
thing is for those who have time to kill. The business 
woman has none. 

44 No; I have never regretted becoming a milliner. 
I pay $2,000 a year rent for my shop, and I own a 
twenty-thousand-dollar home up-town. My account 
at the bank is good. I have little investments here and 
there, and I go to Paris every summer. Perhaps if I 
had turned my attention to what ill-informed persons 
call a higher vocation, I might now be a newspaper 
reporter, running around armed with a shabby umbrella, 
and other accessories to match, anxious to ‘write up’ 
some idle woman’s wedding trousseau or describe some 
actress’s home-toilet. I am very satisfied to be what I 
am.” 

Old as this occupation is, it is one of the best paid in 
which women engage, because a milliner, of necessity, 
is one who understands her business, who has been 
trained in what she is expected to do. When employed 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


271 


by others her salary varies according to her ability. 
If an expert, in concocting confections for the head she 
can command almost incredible wages as an employee, 
or make an enviable fortune as a proprietor. It is said 
that the Princess of Wales is a very clever milliner, 
and usually gives the finishing touches to her bonnets, 
sometimes making them outright. It is well known 
that she is also a skillful dressmaker. Before her mar¬ 
riage she and her sister, now wife of the Czar of Russia, 
made all their own dresses. The sensible princess has 
taught her daughters the same art. 

LACE-MAKING. 

A teacher who received her instruction in this art at 
the London Kensington Art School, and both teaches and 
manufactures in this country, says : 

“ I have made a business of teaching lace-making rather 
than manufacturing laces ; but I have had many pupils 
who have made their living by selling their work. I like 
to make lace very much ; it is easy and light employment; 
but prefer to travel and teach. I can instruct eight 
or ten pupils at one time, thus keeping that many pairs 
of hands busy with as much ease as I could keep my own 
employed, and of course it paj^s me better. I have been 
remarkably successful. I teach about fifteen kinds of 
art needlework, any one of which, if thoroughly under¬ 
stood and practiced, would be a good business. 

“ The market for laces is so far, with some exceptions, 
private. 

“ In comparison with European laces American hand¬ 
made laces do not suffer—especially the Honiton and 
Duchesse which bring almost the same price. 

“ My capital at starting was knowledge of the busi¬ 
ness of manufacturing laces and $25 of borrowed money. 

“ The chief difficulties and obstacles in the way of 
women making a business of it is the common lack of 
perseverance and energy. 


272 


WOMEN IN THE B USINESS WORLD. 


“ All instruction necessary could be acquired in a 
month or six weeks by ordinary application, which must 
be under the personal instruction of a teacher. It could 
not be learned from books. Much that is printed on the 
subject here is very incorrect. I do not make what is 
called Point lace at all. We cannot approach that—so 
I do not attempt it. 

“ The laces I teach are Honiton, English Point and 
Point Guipure, Antique, Point Appliqu^, Thread, 
Spanish Point, Italian and Duchesse.” 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


273 


XXIX. 

WITHIN THE HOME. 

HOME-MAKING. 

This is an art which, more than any other, expresses 
the soul. The home is the garden of all the virtues, 
and the woman at the head of it creates its spirit. Same- 
thing more than an ability to operate domestic machinery 
smoothly is required to produce one whose influence 
will be for good far down the future, and will embrace 
a circle much wider than that made by consanguine ties. 

The home does not exist solely for the pleasure and 
comfort of the family, as many mistakenly suppose. It 
is not a place whose chief charm is in shutting out those 
not born to its privileges ; but rather one whose greatest 
glory consists in its benign influence over many. It 
should be a center, from which affection, sympathy, and 
instruction flow out upon a wide radius of human kind. 
“ The true mother,” says George McDonald, “ is she 
who numbers her children by thousands.” 

The woman who is the controlling spirit of a home, 
liberal in its appointments and broad in its intentions, 
has a great opportunity to benefit her race. She can 
gather about her the young, and by example and precept, 
by the goodness of her heart and gentleness of her man¬ 
ners, by the efforts she makes to provide entertainment 
and instruction for them, sow seeds of noble aspirations 
18 


274 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


which will bear sweet fruition long after she has passed 
on to invisible scenes of activity. She can give pleasure 
to the homeless, the aged, the neglected and the isolated, 
who are always plentiful. She can open her parlors to 
them all, without regard to social lines, when a friend 
comes who has something instructive or interesting to 
say; or she can spend some of the money she puts aside 
for the furthering of her plans to help others, and hire 
lecturers, singers and artists to entertain those whom she 
invites from all ranks. 

The great comfortable houses, filled with fine furnish¬ 
ings, books, and works of art, which are opened only to 
the rich whose eyes are already sated with the beautiful, 
are blots upon civilization. Their owners are hoarding 
things which would be meat and drink to the souls of 
the struggling and respectable poor folk around the 
corner. All about them are growing up girls and boys 
hungry to hear and read about wonders which are shut 
away from them. Why not, under certain reasonable 
limitations, ask them to come in and partake ? 

The home, instead of being the stronghold of selfish¬ 
ness, should be a center of sympathy for all who can be 
brought within its influence. There the “ neighborly 
instinct ” should have full play, and not in any narrow 
sense, either. “Neighborliness is the essence of Altru- 
rianism.” Nothing that could be construed as benevo¬ 
lence should be allowed to color the neighborly minis¬ 
trations of the home. That wounds and humiliates the 
spirit which should be strengthened in its own esteem. 
The people who are invited in to partake of either mental 
or material food should not be all of one class, but of 
different classes ; for that makes a feeling of equality very 
helpful to sore spirits, and gives to each guest the advan- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOBLD. 


275 


tage of contact with others, not of the class to which 
his poverty or his wealth daily consigns him—and that 
is educational to all, to the rich as well as to the poor. 
You do not ask them to share the privileges and pleas¬ 
ures you are able to provide from any sense of duty, 
which is a word much over-rated, but because you have 
a genuine interest in them as members of the great 
human family—and sympathize with their joys and sor¬ 
rows, their struggles and aims. The successful home¬ 
maker causes every one to whom she ministers to feel 
this, and it becomes the bond which unites them to her. 

The need of sympathy, the yearning for it implanted 
in every human soul, is a light that should guide us 
all in our treatment of others. 

Whatever tends to the separation of classes cannot be, 
good for society. The aim of the wise home-maker is to 
encourage union, rather than separateness. She must 
be a communist in the division of sympathy. She must 
watch anxiously to see, not whom she will shut out, 
but whom she can bring into the fold of which she is 
the light and center. 

The tide of taste is turning perceptibly in the direc¬ 
tion of a better development of the science of home¬ 
making. A foreign journal, devoted to the interests of 
women, asks that a society may be formed to further the 
progress of woman as a home-woman. It is to be a con¬ 
gress whose members are emancipated from the bondage 
of ignorance and helplessness, and are proud of the 
duties of woman in the home. 

HOUSEKEEPING-SCHOOLS. 

Paris has a school of housekeeping, for the instruction 
of young women. The course of study includes the 


276 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


points to be regarded in the selection of a house, proper 
management of each department and all its belongings, 
supervision of help, selection of wholesome food, and all 
the details which relate to the proper conduct of the 
household. 

The idea is so good that it ought to take root here and 
grow rapidly. Such schools are needed everywhere. 

The Iowa Agricultural College has a department of 
Domestic Economy. The course is post-graduate, and 
extends through two years and leads to the degree of 
Master of Domestic Economy,—M. D. E. It embraces 
domestic economy, botany, chemistry, physiology and 
hygiene, physical training, dress-fitting and millinery, 
nursing, designing and freehand drawing, household 
accounts, home architecture, home sanitation, and home 
esthetics. 

It is designed for graduates of colleges and uni¬ 
versities, but special students, not graduates of such in¬ 
stitutions, can take the course or any portion of it, and 
receive certificates instead of diplomas, granting the 
degree that will show their proficiency in the branches. 

HOUSEKEEPING. 

This is an art to be respected, but not to be worshiped. 
The woman who makes a fetich of her housekeep¬ 
ing destroys that which is the sole purpose of it— 
the comfort of the home. Order, neatness, efficiency 
are all requisite to perfection in this field of usefulness, 
but the peace of mind of the whole family must not be 
sacrificed that the domestic machinery may be operated 
in a certain way. 

Fixed methods of doing things make a deal of dis¬ 
comfort sometimes. The over-nice housekeeper is sure 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


277 


that her way is the only proper way, and too often 
spends her life in a vain struggle to make others walk 
her chalk line. Excessive veneration for the letter of 
the law is death to its spirit. Over-niceness and undue 
exactness can contribute almost as much to the misery 
of the household as carelessness. One insures a certain 
order of comfort—good food, promptly served, clean¬ 
liness, and the hygienic fraternity that follow in its train, 
but carries with it the enslaved conditions of mind in¬ 
cidental to conformity to unalterable conditions. The 
other provides for the freedom of the mind at the price of 
bodily discomfort. There is a happy medium, and it is 
found where the spirit of home-making governs the 
housekeeping,—where things are done because they con¬ 
tribute to the comfort of the family, and not simply 
because the inflexible ruling of the housekeeper insists 
upon it. 

Scientific housekeeping is not severe housekeeping, 
though it is sometimes so construed. No one in the whole 
economy of civilization is a more important factor than 
the housekeeper. She has it in her power collectively, 
to make the whole world comfortable or uncomfortable. 
Yet so little value is set upon her services that again 
and again her phase of industry is left out of the census 
reports altogether. If she exercises her accomplishments 
solely for the benefit of her own family the census never 
takes account of her at all. She is recorded as without 
an occupation—that of being the indoor manager of a 
home not being considered worthy of mention. Her 
children go to school, and when the teachers ask the 
occupation of their parents, they tell what their father 
is engaged in, but say, “Mother does nothing.” That is 
not intended to imply that she is idle; but merely that 


278 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


her work is not to be put down among the regular indus¬ 
tries. They understand it so because it has never been 
explained to them that although the work of their mother 
brings in no direct moneyed income, it is nevertheless a 
most important contribution to the industries of the 
world; and that she earns money if she does not receive it. 

The number of professional housekeepers is increas¬ 
ing, and the standard of fitness is rising higher. Every 
woman should have a practical knowledge of how to 
manage a home. That is, she should know how to do 
everything necessary to be done. On her knowledge 
will depend the faithfulness and competency of those 
whom she employs. 

The good housekeeper will be a stickler for results 
rather than for methods. She will not make everybody 
miserable if the dish-pan should be found riding an un¬ 
accustomed nail, or if the broom should swing an inch 
or so out of its sphere. She will learn that every other 
worker has a right to the methods which seem best and 
easiest to her,—a right to express herself through her 
work, as we must assuredly all do, whatever may be our 
work. Usually the learner will adopt the housekeeper’s 
way, because it is the skilled way, and therefore better 
than her own; but while she is learning and at all other 
times, the housekeeper must not hold her own method 
in higher esteem than she holds her patience and 
temper. 

44 That finest of all arts, the art of housew ifery,” must 
have a revival of old-time interest. Says a writer: 
44 Housekeeping is an almost forgotten art, in an earlier 
acceptation of the word. The difficulty of establishing 
city or country boarding-houses for wage-earners, where 
they can be secured against the greed of a money-making 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


279 


landlady, is largely created by the impossibility of find¬ 
ing any woman who can wisely buy provisions, superin¬ 
tend the preparation of food and the ordering of a table, 
or undertake the management of assistants in other than 
a spirit of ignorant and dictatorial quarrelsomeness. 
Yet this profession is in no way derogatory to personal 
dignity, and is exceptionally well paid.” 

It may not be generally known that there is a National 
Housekeeper’s Association in this country, with a mem¬ 
bership from all over the land of six hundred, consist¬ 
ing of women socially eminent. Mrs. Potter Palmer, 
of Chicago, is president, and Mrs. Charles Heurotin, of 
the same city, is vice-president. 

A RETURN TO DESERTED PATHS. 

A writer on the economic question, after referring to 
the woes of the workers in great cities says : “ Perhaps 
under the pitiless pressure, some will find their own 
way back into deserted paths, in which there is both 
space and opportunity.” Here is a way out of the suf¬ 
fering of the multitude; but they refuse to take it. 
The solution is simple and easy. Leave the overcrowded, 
underpaid ranks, and enter the deserted paths. 

The same writer tells the story of a young girl who 
had served years in a large establishment, at three dol¬ 
lars a week. After all hope of receiving better pay had 
departed, she came*to the shop one day to bid her com¬ 
panions good-bye, telling them not to speak to her when 
they met her on the street, and explaining that she was 
about to enter on a life revolting to her conscience. “ I 
do not want to go, but I cannot held it,” she said. 

From her view-point there was no other thing to do. 
It seemed that the question of entering domestic service 


280 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


was never even considered. For some reason it was not 
for a moment looked upon as an avenue of escape from 
the ill-paid and hopeless slavery of the shop. What 
was the reason ? Perhaps she did not know how to do 
housework. Granting this, is it not an insult to her in¬ 
telligence to assume that she could not learn as readity 
as do the untaught European girls daily taken into 
homes in New York and intrusted with very respon¬ 
sible duties? 

No; there is a reason more insurmountable than igno¬ 
rance, and it must be a very grave one, when young 
women starve, commit suicide or become outcasts rather 
than take advantage of an opportunity which belongs 
in the class of honest labor, to improve their condition, 
and offers better pay and far greater comfort than are 
theirs in the paths they do enter. Whatever it may 
be it is surely the duty of every one to find and remedy 
it. 

When questioned as to their antipathy to household 
service, some of these women who suffer and die in shops 
frankly tell their objections, from which considerable 
light on this dark subject can be deduced. One has 
this to say: 

“ Why do we struggle on in shops at beggarly wages 
for the most slavish work, when we could be comfort¬ 
able and receive better pay doing housework in private 
families ? I do it because I value freedom above all 
other things; and in domestic service a girl is never 
free. She is made to feel that she is in bondage all the 
time, in unnecessary ways that vex and chafe the spirit. 
She is supposed to be a creature of almost no human 
instincts, needing no society, recreation nor sympathy. 
She is spied upon and her morals suspected if she leaves 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


281 


the house, and she is not expected to have her friends 
come to see her. As nearly as possible she is converted 
into a machine, a necessary but contemptible one. She 
is at the beck and call of her employer night and day ; 
and all too frequently she is the scape-goat for the 
surplus wrath and ill-temper which comes to the surface 
in the family. As far as the respect of society is con¬ 
cerned the girl in domestic service is as completely out¬ 
side of it as if she was living a disreputable life. Is it 
any wonder that many choose shady methods of earning 
their bread rather than honest labor, when honest labor 
is made so conspicuously contemptible ? 

“ Here in the shop, we have but little mercy shown 
us, to be sure, taking the case altogether; but we never 
lose the feeling that we own ourselves; and we are 
treated with a politeness that keeps up our self-respect. 
We are slaves while we are here ; but we are not called 
slaves, and can stand the fact better than the word. 
When evening comes we are absolutely free, and, though 
we may not care to step out of our lodging-houses, the 
feeling of liberty is so precious to us that we are willing 
to sacrifice ourselves rather than lose it; and I believe 
we are right on that point. 

“ There is still another reason for our aversion to 
housework. It is this : Here in the shop our employers 
know exactly what they want done, and we learn to do 
it to their entire satisfaction. They are practical, and 
know all points of their business from the tiniest cog of 
the machinery to the great contracts with buyers. We 
readily learn to please them. This is seldom the case 
in domestic service, it is said. There one’s employer is 
a woman, often ignorant of all the practical work of her 
household, and hard to please because of her ignorance. 


282 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


She is always demanding the impossible. Many times 
she does not know whether things have been done well 
or ill, and is never certain that one has done enough. 
Competent managers of households are said to be very 
scarce. 

“We ‘ shop girls,’ as the public call us, are not wholly 
uninformed on prevailing thought and changes in sen¬ 
timent. We all have some of the civilizing commodity 
called education, and we read the newspapers. We 
have not failed to observe that there is any amount of 
talk or twaddle in circulation about the recognition of 
the unity of the human family, but it does not seem to 
be put in practice. Are we not a long ways from rec¬ 
ognizing the truth of this fine sentiment when any 
class of respectable labor carries with it the contempt of 
the public ? No; thank you; as an American, owner 
of a free spirit, I can’t do housework. I shall never 
put myself in a position to be spoken of as a ‘ servant.’ 
That kind of thing is foreign to my blood. I believe I 
could better endure other very detestable names. How¬ 
ever opprobrious, they would not indicate that' I was a 
bondswoman! ‘ Shop girl ’ I do not resent, but ‘ serv¬ 

ant’ shall not be applied to me.” 

THE WORD THAT KILLS. 

It is not improbable that this plain-spoken ‘ shop girl ’ 
has intuitively gone straight to the root of the trouble 
in the matter of domestic service. Perhaps the word 
“ servant ” is responsible for the vile service so univer¬ 
sally complained of, and for the wide-spread aversion 
entertained for this form of industry everywhere. We 
all know the power of words to work results for good 
or evil. This word, meaning originally one who per- 


WOMEN IN THE B USINESS WORLD. 283 

formed any kind of service, has sunk to a lower grade 
of life, and is used now almost exclusively to describe 
those who work for hire in the household. Even then 
its most offensive meanings shadow it, and somehow it 
is understood to be “ one in a state of subjection,” or “ a 
person of base condition or ignoble spirit.” Could any 
good be expected of a class who submitted to such a 
term, or would any self-respecting person cheerfully 
enter a service where the word would be applied to her 
or him ? 

It is a distinctive^ un-American word, anyway; and 
only took root here in its most offensive meaning and 
narrow application, after we began to ape European 
ways. True, all workers are servants, whether they 
serve the state or individuals, but the distinctions are 
very noticeable, and the workers in domestic economy 
have the worst of it. I doubt not that the abolition of it 
would bring about a wonderful change for the better in 
our entire industrial system. This question of domes¬ 
tic service is a very grave one, with far wider interests 
than those affected by the burned beefsteak and muddy 
coffee. All other industries share, to a greater or less 
degree, in the ill effects of this imperfectly operated 
one. 

“ Servant ” is peculiarly a woman’s word. Man is 
less addicted to it. What man who employs workmen 
and workwomen in factory or shop ever speaks of them 
as “ servants ? ” He never thinks of doing such a thing. 
If he were guilty of it he knows well enough that his 
factory or shop would soon be empty. No; he speaks 
of them as “ men ” or “ workmen,” a term not in the 
least offensive to even sensitive ears; or he calls them 
“my people,” a term which has a coloring of patriarchal 


284 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 

stewardship over their lives, and even a shade of affec¬ 
tion. Even the Englishman who is represented as more 
or less anxious to draw caste lines, speaks of his valet, 
as his “ man.” 

Words are so mighty for good or ill, that as soon as 
one is known to be hateful it should be dropped. Is it 
remarkable that housework is considered “ menial ” 
employment when those who perform it are spoken of 
as “ servants ? ” How could it be otherwise ? The 
adoption of a nobler word, or one not perverted by bad 
usage to something lower than its true meaning, would, 
I truly believe, bring a superior class of women to house¬ 
hold service. 

In the early days of our country, outside the limits 
of slavery, there were no servants—neither in fact nor 
name. There was an exchange of work among equals. 
When one family had several daughters, one of them 
would assist some housewife who had none or whose 
children were small; but there was no question of inferi¬ 
ority or superiority, and no degrading word applied to 
the helper. Being of the same class as her employer, 
she was simply one of the family, sharing its pleasures 
and affection as well as its work. Perhaps the sons of 
her employer lent a hand to assist her father in the 
harvest field, so the whole matter was a reciprocity of 
labor. There was then no complaint of bad service. 
The “ help ” employed in the household had not been 
reduced to incompetence by words that degraded both 
them and their work. 

DISPENSING WITH INFEKIOPvS. 

If the word “ servant ” could be abolished the class it 
describes would also vanish with it, and the home be 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


285 


cleared of that worst of all features of our domestic 
economy, the presence of inferiors, which is destructive 
to a wholesome mental atmosphere. The home is 
intended as a place of ease, complete relaxation when 
relaxation is needed, and the enjoyment of the society 
of the members composing the family. All these are 
disturbed by the presence of inferiors—that is, beings of 
a lower class intellectually, having nothing in common 
with those they serve. 

The principles of co-operation applied more exten¬ 
sively to the management of the home would solve the 
problem of domestic service satisfactorily. Wherever 
it has been tried understanding^ it has not been found 
ineffectual. Take your social equals, not your inferiors, 
into the home. That will abolish bad service and un¬ 
pleasant influences, besides ennobling household labor, 
and thereby benefiting all civilization. 

A CO-OPERATIVE HOUSEHOLD. 

An example of a co-operative household which comes 
to mind is worth describing. It consists of eight mem¬ 
bers, though only two constitute the original family. 
All are on an equality. Some are relatives of the 
family proper and some are not; but in no sense is there 
any inferiority or thought of inferiority. The work is 
apportioned out by the home-maker, and each does her 
or his share, for the male element is represented as well 
as the female. From time to time duties are exchanged 
that all may have an opportunity of becoming proficient 
in the various branches of home-work, which includes 
gardening and the care of animals, as well as indoor 
duties. 

Everything is always done excellently, and on time, 


286 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


and the contact is harmonious. The higher education 
of the younger co-operators is not neglected, nor are the 
pleasures of both older and younger forgotten. All 
share in whatever enjoyments are attainable, as well as 
in the labor, and all are free to do what they will when 
their work is done. The result is a home which pro¬ 
vides for the comfort of eight instead of two,—a comfort 
which includes the spirit as well as the body in its 
scope. 

THREE REASONS WHY. 

A writer on social science finds three reasons why 
young American women prefer to earn their living at 
anything rather than household service. They are the 
lack of necessary training; the love of personal liberty 
and dislike for the restrictions which hedge about house¬ 
hold help; and the constant reminder, from the time 
that she appears upon the scenes of her labor in the 
morning until she disappears from it at night, that she 
is on a different plane from those around her—that she 
is, in fact and in name, a “ servant.” 

The universal conclusion of the young womanhood of 
this country is that one can retain her self-respect bet¬ 
ter. while working for most men than while working for 
most women. The man is accustomed to having em¬ 
ployees under him ; he knows—most important of all— 
when to leave them alone; and, generally, he has been 
under authority in his younger days, and appreciates 
their sentiments. The housewife is probably without 
experience as a subordinate and without much knowl¬ 
edge of her own or her employee’s duties. Then, having 
had less contact with life than has her husband, she is 
prone to be less broad in her ideas ; unconsciously, per¬ 
haps, she perpetuates false ideas of caste, and makes the de- 


WOMEN IN THE B USINESS WORLD . 


287 


plorable mistake of adding her contempt to the burden 
of servitude. The natural result is to make domestic 
service undesirable, and to enable those who unwillingly 
enter it to hold out for their own terms, no matter how 
great their incompetence. 

When household labor is put on the same footing as 
other work in the business world, the vexed question of 
having it done well will be solved. Make it an honor¬ 
able business, like any other, and thousands of intelli¬ 
gent, capable, self-respecting women will be eager to 
engage in it. 

HOW TO KEEP BOARDERS. 

Keeping boarders is the usual refuge of the woman 
who has a house and must needs earn some money; 
and, if proper business methods are applied to the work, 
it becomes a very successful way of abolishing poverty. 
Unhappily, however, many women engage in it in a 
make-shift way, and the result is either complete disas¬ 
ter or a mere keeping afloat, which holds both boarders 
and hostess in misery. 

There is no surer means of winning dollars than by 
providing food and lodging for people, because these are 
imperative necessities; therefore, patronage is always 
certain if good value is given for the money asked. 
Where is the good boarding-house in any corner of the 
world which lacks patrons ? It has never been found. 
Those of the make-shift order abound, and are always 
half-empty, as they deserve to be. Yet the secret of 
success is an open one. It consists in applying the ele¬ 
mentary laws of the business world to the work. Give 
your patrons a first-class article, and “ let your inten¬ 
tions be known.” Don’t “let the house run itself.” 
Nowhere is eternal vigilance so necessary as in a board- 


288 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


ing-house. As in all other business careers, flavor your 
business dealings with kindness, and don’t make the 
mistake of thinking that true business methods mean 
hard-lieartedness or brutal grasping for your boarders’ 
dollars. Quite the contrary. Successful business meth¬ 
ods are never destitute of kindness and sympathy. 
These are the very corner-stones of success, in spite of 
occasional instances of great fortunes being gained by 
meanness. Success means more than the mere accumu¬ 
lation of money. It means the true development of 
character. Sure indeed is the failure of that life which 
sacrifices character to money. A spiritual law underlies 
all things, and when that is violated retribution is certain. 

The Central Vermont railroad published, not long 
since, a little book entitled 44 How to Take Care of Sum¬ 
mer Boarders and Keep Them,” which is so good that 
the most experienced boarding-house manager could 
read it with profit. The summer boarder in the country 
becomes the winter boarder in town ; so that, in arrang¬ 
ing to do business with him, the only difference is one 
of season and locality. The author of this book, a sensible 
Vermont woman, says: 

“ Remember that keeping boarders is purely a 
business arrangement. You offer to furnish good, fair 
board for the fair amount of money you need ; they 
offering their money for what they need more—rest and 
health. The successful business man is characterized 
by courtesy and attention to even the minutest details. 
The successful hostess has a no less arduous task if she 
retains her boarders. 

44 As keeping boarders is a business, the bargains with 
boarders should be business-like. When your guests 
arrive, worn with the year that is past and fatigued by 
the heat of the city, they will be taken at once to their own 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


289 


rooms, just passing through your neat, simply-furnished 
hall or reception-room. Let it be revealed at first glance 
that all is neat, sweet, quiet and comfortable within. 
Remember, a room which seems large to the average 
country woman seems uncomfortably contracted to the 
average city woman, therefore make the most of your 
space and housewifely pride in neatness. And here is 
a precious bit of advice: 

‘ “ In all kindliness and Christian love we entreat you 
to let them (the boarders) entirely alone, socially, until 
they themselves begin to show signs of life and interest. 
They just want to be left alone, to sleep and to eat.” ’ 

This is a most vital point, one whose observance con¬ 
tributes largely to the manager’s success. Many a 
woman, otherwise excellent in the capacity of hostess, 
has driven boarders away by being too sociable, taking 
too warm an interest in their affairs—asking them per¬ 
sonal questions and probing them on points with which 
she had no cause to meddle at all. This is offensive 
always, and often unendurable. Let the boarders 
possess their histories and personal affairs in peace. 
The fact that you are housing them for a fixed price 
gives you no privilege of probing them at all. It will be 
money in the hostess’s pocket and harmony in her house 
if she avoids doing this. 

Another thing the perfect hostess never does is to say 
unflattering things of boarders who see fit to leave the 
house and find accommodations elsewhere. If she takes 
their departure gracefully, acknowledging it as their 
right to make a change, which it certainly is, they may 
get tired of their new place and want to come back 
some day. But if she makes ugly remarks about them 
they are bound to hear them and sure then never to 
dream of returning. 


290 


WOMEN IN TIIE BUSINESS WORLD. 


Avoid rickety furniture. All drawers that will not 
close easily, chairs that show signs of a break-down, car¬ 
pets that trip one up, feeble shades and tattered curtains, 
time-worn dishes and other unsightly things. They 
are an abomination to the boarder, and make him home¬ 
sick and discontented. 

Don’t forget to keep match-safes, well filled, in every 
room; and as for towels, every boarder knoweth how 
dreadful it is to be stinted in them. 

The author of this little book referred to says of the 
economics of the dining-room : 

“The dining-room is the last place where one can 
scrimp. Economize as best you may it will take a large 
quantity of table-cloths and napkins to keep the table 
fresh and wholesome. They had better be coarse and 
plenty than fine and either scant or soiled. First cover 
the table wfith felt or canton flannel. The chairs should 
be broad-seated, strong and comfortable. Have plenty 
of dishes, knives, forks, spoons, etc., even if they have to 
be cheap ones. It will save much service, especially at 
dinner, to lay at each cover both dinner and dessert knives 
and forks, a teaspoon for each vegetable or relish, soup¬ 
spoon, dessert-spoon, if you serve puddings or ices, a glass 
of water, individual salt and pepper castor or dishes, a 
pat of butter, and a piece of white bread. The dinner 
should be prefaced by soup—not of the warm-water-and 
grease variety—but one of the legion of soups that 
can be made of remnants of roasts, fowls, vegetables, and 
cheap joints. You are all right on the fresh cream, milk, 
egg, vegetables, small fruits, and fowls if you will only 
sacrifice them now and not wait till Thanksgiving. 
You cannot realize how many times more appetizing are 
perfectly fresh vegetables, eggs, and fruits, than the best 
it is possible, to procure in the city. As to the meat. 
The only point where criticism is likely to occur is on 
the beef question. It is incomprehensible to the average 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


291 


country butcher that fifteen-year-old farrow cows and 
two year-old bulls never did and never will supply 
tender, juicy, nutritious steaks and roasts. The blue 
beef, in the one instance, and the insipid, white, coarse, 
tough fibers in the other, require a herculean amount of 
jaw-power, which might better be spent in a nobler and 
more profitable cause. To be sure, Western dressed 
beef costs from 18 to 25 cents per pound, but one pound 
contains twice or thrice the nourishment of ordinary beef. 
Too many persons cook beef within twenty-four hours 
of its being slaughtered. It is totally unfit to eat at 
that time. Three days is as short a time as it is possible 
for beef to properly ripen. Beef should be kept at a 
low temperature near, never on, ice. At the end of a 
week steaks will be found much more juicy and tender. 

“ Six minutes before steak is served it should be 
lightly rinsed in ice water, wiped dry, and broiled, not 
over three minutes, over hot, live coals, laid upon a 
heated platter, seasoned and buttered liberally, set for 
two minutes in the oven for the butter to melt and 
brown, and then served immediately on heated plates. 
A roast should be roasted in a hot oven, never sizzled. 
No water should be put in the dripper. If the oven is 
at a proper temperature, in ten minutes there will be 
sufficient juices from the meat to baste. This should 
be repeated at frequent intervals till the piece is done, 
crisp on the outside, tender and bright red inside, the 
juice following the knife when carved. Have as many 
varieties of meat as possible.” 

After a word for plenty of berries, vegetables, cream, 
and milk, the authoress says that, besides white bread, 
the coarser breads are a change, healthful and cheap. 
The majority of city people prefer black tea infused— 
not boiled in tin teapots—to green tea, and let it be 
good quality and strength. Of coffee she says it should 
be good in quality, clear, and strong. She has the 
audacity to tell New England readers to “avoidgreasy 


292 


WOMEN IN THE JJ USINESS WORLD. 


doughnuts, griddle cakes, etc., giving instead delicate 
breakfast-rolls, with an omelet, poached or boiled eggs, 
a bit of steak, or a slice of cold meat. 

“ Give your boarders at least one room which they 
are at liberty to use at any time of the day or night for 
sitting, reading, writing. Have a generous supply of 
good, strong, comfortable seats, fans, cushions, hassocks, 
lamps, writing-materials, newspapers, etc. If possible, 
arrange to have mails brought at least once a day, for to 
persons accustomed to having four or five mails daily 
it seems like death in the house not to hear at least 
once a day from the outside world. Have all the 
appointments of your house as neat and nice as may be— 
not in the pizen-neat way that looks aghast at the luck¬ 
less individual who tracks a little mud on your yellow 
painted floor, nor show by your manner that in your 
opinion he has committed the unpardonable sin. Put 
strong springs on your screen doors; then holding them 
wide open to admit flies ten minutes after you have 
driven them out will be attended with difficulties.” 

In fact there is only one way to keep boarders, after 
getting them, and that is to make them as comfortable 
as possible. 

This isn’t easy to do, nothing is, but when it is done 
in a business-like way the money it brings in gives one 
a very comfortable sense of well-doing. 

And then there is compensation of a very satisfactory 
character in knowing that you have given full value for 
what you have received. 

THE BENEFICENCE OF LABOR. 

Writing about the nonsense so frequently uttered 
on the subject of work in the household, Sarah Orne 
Jewett says; 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


293 


“ When one realizes how hard it is to find good wopien 
for every kind of work in our houses, and what prices 
many rich people are willing to pay if they can be well 
suited, it is a wonder more girls are not ready to seize 
the chances. It is because such work has been almost 
always so carelessly and poorly done that it has fallen 
into disrepute, and the doers of it ha^ve taken such low 
rank. They do not take the trouble to fit themselves 
properly, but, instead, trust to being taught and finding 
out their duties after they assume their positions, not 
before. The idea of degradation in kitchen work is 
wholly incompatible with our boasted progress. Neither 
mistress nor maid should feel anything less than pride 
in her achievements in the kitchen, but rather shame in 
a want of knowledge to do the work that is to be done. 
I should feel exceedingly mortified to have one whom I 
had educated feel any more degraded by making the 
muffins for breakfast, or by performing the most menial 
service in the household, if necessary, than she would 
feel by engaging in art needlework, or any other 
elegant pursuit so dear to the sex. Let us rise to the 
dignity of the subject, and improve the kitchen, bring 
into it more science, more modern machinery, more 
common sense, and, above all, more moral principles, and 
a proper regard for those dependent upon us.” 


294 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD . 


XXX. 

CHEERING FACTS AND FANCIES. 

BUSINESS WOMEN’S CLUBS. 

One of the last proofs that women are generally 
awakening to a desire to be factors in the industrial 
world is the formation of Business Women’s Clubs in 
different parts of the country. Perhaps the one widest 
in scope thus far is the Women’s Business Club of 
Chicago, founded by Mrs. Margaret C. Benton, Presi¬ 
dent. Its Vice-President is Dr. Mary Murrell, Chicago; 
Recording-Secretary, Mrs. M. Louisa White, Peoria ; 
Corresponding-Secretary, Mrs. Annie S. Kenyon, Chi¬ 
cago ; Treasurer, Mrs. Maud Theilling, Peoria. 

This club aims to encourage and assist women to the 
study of business methods, and will also devote itself 
to securing the extinction of legislation inimical to the 
interests of women. The idea is to make the club a 
national organization, with a membership roll drawn 
from all over the country, and that it shall be a center 
from which other clubs in other cities shall draw their 
methods of work. 

The headquarters of the club are at No. 6236 Morgan 
Street, in Englewood. 

CO-OPERATIVE RAISIN-GROWING. 

Fourteen years ago four women from Maine, Massa¬ 
chusetts, Vermont and New York, respectively, met in 


TT OMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


295 


California. They were teachers who had given years 
of faithful service to schools, and out of small sal¬ 
aries, by severe self-denial, had saved a little money. 
Each had dreams of investing this precious and dearly- 
earned capital in some safe and profitable way, against 
the day of a possible break-down in health or any of the 
unhappy contingencies which may overtake the salaried 
worker. Besides, they were weary of the spiritual 
“ dust and decay,” incident to the monotony of teach¬ 
ing. 

So they talked it over and concluded to join forces by 
buying land and opening a fruit-farm. They selected 
100 acres, three miles from Fresno, in the San Joaquin 
Valley, in Central California, each taking twenty acres. 
It was simply unbroken prairie land, without a tree 
or a shrub, or anything in the nature of a building on 
it. They gave 850 an acre for it, which included a 
water right, for which each paid a rental of 812.50 a 
year, or 8T2.50 for the entire tract. 

They put up a temporary house in which two of them 
lived, with a Chinaman as general utility man indoors 
and out, and attended to the farm, while the others took 
situations as teachers in San Francisco. 

Part of the land they planted in fruit-trees,—apricots, 
peaches, pears, plums and cherries; the rest they put 
into a vineyard with a view to making raisin-culture 
their principal business and source of profit, a course 
in which experience has justified them. 

They planted three varieties of grapes, the Muscat of 
Alexandria, the Spanish grape or Muscatel de Gordo, 
and the seedless Sultana, all of which are true raisin 
grapes. Knowing nothing of vine culture before under¬ 
taking the business of planting and operating their 


296 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


farm, their education was wholly practical. Happily, 
they had a capable instructor in the person of a neigh¬ 
bor, who had spent several years in Spain studying the 
best methods of grape-growing. He kindly gave them 
the benefit of his advice, which proved invaluable. 

They did a great deal of the work themselves, although 
usually employing two farm-hands,—and enjoyed it 
more than anything they had ever done. They were 
often tired, very tired; but it was a delicious order of 
weariness, very different from the brain fag of the school 
room. A night’s sleep made them as good as new, 
the out-door work toned up their worn-out nerves and 
gave them such health and strength as they had scarcely 
known before. 

The third year they began to have an income, which 
increased from year to year, until some seasons their 
vineyard yielded them $150 an acre, when they sold 
their raisins cured and ready for packing at five cents a 
pound. If they packed them, the profit was greater. 
The orchard was less profitable, but the compensation 
for that was that it demanded less of their' time and 
labor. 

A few years ago they built a handsome house, which, 
when completed, cost $3,600. This was not paid for 
entirely from the profits of the business, but all other 
improvements on the farm were. 

Their place is now an Eden of beauty. Not only 
have their fruit-trees and vines grown luxuriantly, but 
the forest trees of their planting are already immense. 
Proper irrigation and the soft, warm climate, have pro¬ 
duced results that seem little short of miracles. Two 
hundred dollars an acre would by no means be a high 
figure for their farm now. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 297 

Four years ago, one of the resident partners died. 
Speaking of their united work, the remaining manager 
said: 

“ Of course it was not easy to take a piece of barren 
land and make a profitable fruit-farm out of it, as we 
did; but nothing that has any return in it is easy. 
There was pleasure in the work for many reasons, the 
chief of which, perhaps, was that we were building up our 
own property. The joy of being proprietors and home- 
owners can hardly be exaggerated. Only the homeless 
can properly appreciate it. Take it all in all, our years 
together there were the happiest of our lives. 

“ I wish I could bring all self-supporting women to 
see the great benefits of co-operation. In union is 
strength—yes, and pleasure, too, if the co-laborers deter¬ 
mine to have it so. It is lamentable to see women 
struggling single-handed with the perplexing problem 
of making a living, which could be so happily solved if 
they would unite their forces. The fear of not getting 
on well together keeps many from making the experi¬ 
ment; but in the meantime, wherever they are and 
whatever they are doing, they have to 4 get on ’ with some¬ 
body. Why, then, should they not determine to exercise 
this art where it will most advance their fortunes ? 

“No one must understand, however, that a great 
pecuniary reward awaits the raisin-grower; but there is 
an independence in it, and the fruit-farm is a safe and 
profitable bank for the savings of women who will go 
into the work determined to get the best out of it, as 
we did.” 

ANOTHER STORY OF SUCCESSFUL CO-OPERATION. 

I found the following story in a reputable newspaper, 
and give it as a useful hint to women who have wisdom 
enough to co-operate with others and tact enough to 
get along well with them : 

“One of the most successful business ventures in 


298 WOMEN IN TIIE BUSINESS WORLD. 

Indianapolis is the property of a lot of girls, who two 
years ago were working in various laundries about the 
city at wages ranging from $6 to $9 a week. It is true 
the concern is a small one, but it is entitled to con¬ 
sideration inasmuch as it earned last year, the second 
of its existence, 54 per cent, net, not counting $500 
debts liquidated and the purchase of new machines, a 
wagon and other necessities in the business. This enter¬ 
prise is the Co-operative Union Laundry. It is a joint- 
stock concern, and under its rules no person can hold 
more than one-third of the capital stock of $5,000. The 
amount invested at the start was $8,800 in cash, and 
notes were given for the purchase of certain machines 
and fixtures which were necessary. The originators of 
the company were members of the Laundry Girls’ 
Union, who had saved up each a little money and were 
able to take some stock. Their sponsor and guide in 
the formation of the company, was D. F. Kennedy, then 
president of the Central Labor Union. There had pre¬ 
viously been some trouble between the operatives and 
the master launderers, and the Central Labor Union, 
through Mr. Kennedy, had taken up the cause of the 
girls. 

“ The latter realized that with the support and patron¬ 
age of the Union men of the city, the laundry'business 
would prove highly profitable, and he induced the girls 
to organize on the co-operative plan. One of the ablest 
and most conscientious lawyers in the city was engaged 
to draw up the articles of association, Mr. Kennedy 
impressing it upon him that he wanted the articles so 
drawn that if the enterprise was a success the girls 
would be safe from any one who would try to obtain a 
majority of the stock and freeze them out. The attor¬ 
ney entered into the work with the same spirit, and 
afterward said he put more thought upon these articles 
of association than he had ever before given to such a 
task. The result is all that was asked for. The stock¬ 
holders reap a large return on their investment, and, as 
many of them are employees of the laundry at higher 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD . 


299 


wages than in the non-union shops, their incomes enable 
them to live much better and save much more than ever 
before. 

“ Mr. Kennedy refused to take any of the stock, fear¬ 
ing, he says, that his interest in the girls might be 
misconstrued, and also declined to act as business 
manager. He advised that some one acquainted with 
the business, who had once made a success of it, should 
be selected as manager. Such a man was found, and 
he was allowed to take part of the stock, the control of 
the business, however, remaining in the board of direc¬ 
tors selected from among the girls themselves. The 
report of the manager at the recent meeting shows that 
the year’s total receipts were over $19,000, with $1,500 
of good book accounts. The average number on the 
pay-roll during the year was twenty-one, the lowest 
wage paid $6.50, with overtime at one and one-half the 
regular rate. Counting the debts paid and the amount 
paid for new material, the net earnings above the ex¬ 
penses yielded a profit of over 90 per cent. Consider¬ 
ing the business depression, the girls feel that they 
have no cause to complain. One young woman of 
25 years, whose wages are $8 a week, has $300 stock, 
part of which she has paid for out of the earnings in 
dividends. She is on the way to accumulating a com¬ 
petence. 

“ The stock is not for sale, and one girl who could not 
work amicably with the manager and who had to be 
discharged, still clings to her holdings of stock, because 
of the large return on the investment. All the officers 
except the treasurer are young women. The patronage 
of the concern is not confined to the ranks of organized 
labor, but it bids for work against the oldest laundries 
in the city, and commands general respect. The laun¬ 
dry is a remarkable one, not only because it demon¬ 
strates that the co-operative principle can be success¬ 
fully worked, but also that the promoters and owners 
are women, not one of whom is much over 30, and most 
of them from 20 to 25 years of age.” 


300 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


VOICES AT HOME AND ABROAD. 

Dr. Stanton Coit, who is at the head of the University 
Association at 26 Delancey Street, New York, says: 

“ It may he asked what woman’s object in life might 
be if it were not matrimony. Is she the equal of man 
and able to have a career outside of the home ? To 
this it might be answered that the most stupid men 
have careers, and, therefore, even if women were no 
cleverer than the most stupid men, they, too, could 
have careers. They could be scrubwomen, if they 
could be nothing better, and by settling upon their 
work they could go on and fill their lives with the in¬ 
terests with which a man fills his. It isn’t strange 
that at present a woman’s sole object in life is matrimony. 
How else is she to make a living? I think that women 
should become workers. Say that a woman marries at 
25 (she ought not to marry earlier) ; there are ten years, 
from fifteen to twenty-five, during which she is capable 
of earning her own living. Take out the next fifteen 
years for child-rearing. The woman is then 40; her 
children are in school, and she is free during the day; 
she is riper in mind and experience, and is more fitted 
than ever before to perform valuable service in industrial 
and civil affairs. From that time until she is 70 she should 
be a worker. It is better for her and for society. Tak¬ 
ing out the fifteen years for the rearing of children, 
there are forty-five years when she may be a member of 
the industrial world. 

“ I am not at all sure that the problem should not be 
solved in another way. When a woman is rearing 
children, what is she doing? She is performing a civic 
function, just as much as the school-teacher or the in¬ 
structor who trains the soldiers and sailors of the country. 
v If that is the case, why should she not be paid for her 
services, and care be taken to see that they are properly 
done ? It would result in the rearing of better men 
and women, as well as in the payment of that unpaid 
class, the mothers.” 


Women in the business world . 301 

A representative from the Orient, who took part in 
the World’s Parliament of Religions at the Columbian 
Fair, when asked what solution was possible for the 
social inharmony which exists all over the world, said: 

“ Women must become financially independent of 
men. So long as men are the masters of the purses, 
the inharmony of such a condition will reflect itself in 
misery. When once women universally recognize this, 
and take measures to make themselves independent 
economically, they can do what they will, and will have 
everything they want.” 

“ But the children,” some one suggested, “ who will 
take care of them? It is this point of the question 
which has kept women dependent.” 

“ Well, a way will be found out of that difficulty when 
the question is seriously faced.” 

Says the Boston Herald: “Women’s place in the 
world is among men. In every-day experience their 
work is side by side with men. The sexes gain from 
each other in all association, and if our modern life 
teaches anything it is that the individual, male or female, 
is of little consequence except as an integral part of a 
strong and harmonious combination. The women’s 
work, the value of which is never questioned, is that 
which is done in the same spirit as that of men, and, 
taking its place among achievements of its kind, is 
pledged upon its merits without regard to age, condition, 
or sex of the doer. 

W. T. Stead says : “ Women can do very nearly every¬ 
thing that men can do, and a good many things that 
men cannot do; there is nothing that I should enjoy 
starting a paper more for than in order to give woman 
a fair chance to see what she can do. At the same time 
let me say that I absolutely and entirely disapprove of 
any one-legged show, as I call it, and I detest any 
institution, whether it be a club, or a Legislature, or 


302 WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 

a public meeting, or a newspaper office, that is run 
exclusively by persons of one sex. The human race 
is composed of both sexes, and every institution which 
endeavors to represent that race ought to give equal 
representation to each of the sexes.” 

New Hampshire has three women bank treasurers, 
including a Miss Clark, who has been elected to her re¬ 
sponsible place for the tenth consecutive time. The 
business of the bank has largely increased under her 
administration, and her good judgment in the placing 
of loans has resulted in her being made a member of 
the investment company. At Mount Pleasant, Texas, 
there is a national bank with a woman for president, 
who enjoys the added distinction of being the youngest 
bank president in the country. South Paris has a 
woman cashier in its bank, and the Florence Savings 
Bank has a woman treasurer. The money order depart¬ 
ment of Pittsburgh, where the receipts are more than 
two millions annually, is exclusively in the hands of a 
woman. 

Buffalo has a woman undertaker, and St. Paul also 
boasts a woman undertaker among its interesting 
features. Chicago had one, but she has grown wealthy 
in business and retired. And these women attend 
to every detail, from embalming the body to ordering 
the mourning, and deciding on the border in the widow’s 
bonnet. There is a woman in Maine conducting an ex¬ 
tensive foundry and locomotive building establishment, 
which turns out a locomotive a week. In Holland, at 
every railroad crossing, stands a woman waving the 
signal flag of danger as your train passes. The reason 
why—because of the prevailing intemperance among 
the men in Holland. And railroad officials are answer- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


303 


able for the statement that no accident has ever been 
caused by a watch woman’s carelessness. The conductors 
on all the street-cars in Warsaw, Russia, are women. 

One of the best mining experts in Arizona is a woman 
—a tall, dark-eyed beauty, less than thirty years of age, 
and known all over the State for her reliable work. 
Chicago has a regularly licensed woman steam-engineer; 
England a woman sanitary engineer so well qualified 
that she was chosen to represent the English women at 
the Congress of Hygiene: Cincinnati has a woman 
customs broker, and a woman in New Orleans is one of 
the best veterinary surgeons in the city. At East Green¬ 
wich there is a woman jail-keeper, and in the Cogswell 
Polytechnic School of California there is a girl in the 
blacksmithing department, who has taken up the voca¬ 
tion seriously for the purpose of making ornamental 
forged work. 

A typewriter emploj^ed in the office of a prominent 
real estate firm in St. Paul has such accurate knowledge 
of the realty of the city that she is frequently consulted 
in preference to her employers, one of whom says if she 
were a man he would be the office-boy. 

No less reliable an authority than Helen Campbell is 
responsible for the report that 25,000 women in the city 
of New York alone are supporting their husbands, while 
many of them have children depending on them as well, 
and it is safe to premise that quite as many more have 
old parents or sisters or brothers to assist or support. 

In Nebraska a woman owns and personally operates 
a traveling, steam threshing machine outfit, and goes 
about the country with it and makes her own contracts. 
There are two women captains on the Mississippi river, 
each holding a United States Marine license as captain. 


304 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


One owns her own boat; the other boat is owned by a 
company of merchants, but they are not afraid to en¬ 
trust it to a woman. Another is captain of a steamer 
on Puget’s sound. There are three women pilots on the 
Mississippi river, all holding licenses. In a shingle 
saw mill in Washington, two women work on the 
shingle machines, and at another mill in the same local¬ 
ity a woman runs a dummy that hauls immense logs 
into the mill-yard. A woman is employed as the de¬ 
signer in one of the largest factories at Grand Rapids, 
Michigan, and another holds a similar position in the ser¬ 
vice of a great stove company in Detroit. The delicate 
ornamental work on the carriages manufactured by one 
of.the largest factories in Indiana is done by a woman, 
and some of the finest stables and vineyards in the 
west, as well as ranches, are owned and operated by 
women. 

Mrs. Harriet Blatch, daughter of Elizabeth Cady 
Stanton, who has devoted considerable time to the study 
of the industrial condition of women in England, says : 

“You remember that Adam Smith in his ‘Wealth of 
Nations,’ says that women are not producers. We have 
advanced in thought since then. For instance, Prof. 
Marshall, of Cambridge, England, says that the woman 
who bakes bread in a kitchen is as much a producer as 
the man who bakes bread in a bakesliop. That is true, 
but, alas ! Prof. Marshall did not see quite far enough, 
for the woman who bakes bread in her own kitchen for 
only her board and clothes is also a producer. There 
are two kinds of income. There is the actual income 
and the economic income. Suppose a cobbler earns $5 
a week. That is his actual income. But suppose that 
outside of that he cobbles shoes for his friends and his 
family. That, added to his actual income, is his 
economic value. I believe that woman’s economic in- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


305 


come is quite as great as man’s. She does so many 
things for herself. She makes her own hats, her own 
dresses, perhaps, cooks her own meals, and that must 
all be counted in. Not until we are willing to eat raw 
roots, sit down to tables without cloth or china, sleep in 
beds that are never made, sit in rooms that are never 
dusted, and go about unclothed, can we say that women 
are not producers.” 

PERTINENT PARAGRAPHS. 

It is said that Iowa is one of the most advanced 
states in the Union, in the matter of women taking part 
in business. It is estimated that 80,000 of its women 
are engaged in industrial work which brings them a 
moneyed return. Some are even employed in the* 
heavier industries, such as boiler-making and iron¬ 
working. Women physicians are so numerous there 
that every town has them. They are in great favor 
with the public, too, as their bank accounts prove. 
More than half the students of typewriting, telegraphy, 
and stenograph}^ are women. Clubs for scientific study 
composed of women are numerous. Some cities have 
women superintendents of schools who receive the 
same pay as men in the same office. Women serve on 
the State Board of Education. Ten ordained women 
preachers labor within the State, and there are also 
women librarians, women bank presidents, and women 
sculptors. 

The cultivation of the pecan nut is an industry Texas 
women sometimes engage in with profit. The pecan is 
a valuable tree and will thrive in many of the Southern 
States. 

A young American girl has built a railroad to ex ten- 
20 


306 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


sive salt deposits she owns in Mexico. The Mexican 
government granted her a valuable concession in the 
form of a privilege for the establishment of colonies in 
two states. She then went to England to make arrange¬ 
ments for bringing over several thousand English 
families to settle upon her lands. 

In Massachusetts there are 800,000 bread-winning 
women, of which Boston has 20,000. In New York 
there are 200,000 working women and girls. The 
American Cultivator gives the following figures, based 
upon the census of 1890: In Germany there are 
5,500,000 working women ; in France, 8,750,000 ; in 
England, 4,000,000; in Austria-Hungary, 8,500,000; 
in America, 2,700,000; making a total in five countries 
of 19,450,000 self-supporting women. 

In Roumania there are women who are modified com¬ 
mercial travelers. They do not deal with merchants, 
but make a specialty of supplying trousseaux and 
similar outfits to families. They are from Paris, 
and carry quite large stocks with them. They begin 
with small pieces of fine linen, which they sell cheap, and 
then, having established relations with their customers, 
they take orders for gowns, jewelry, and silver. They 
make large profits, and would seem to have found a 
new avenue of employment. 

UNIVERSITIES OPEN TO WOMEN. 

M. Louis Frank, of Brussels, has collected a large 
amount of information about the extent to which uni¬ 
versities are open to women in different European 
countries and in the United States. It was in 1868 
that the French faculties were first opened to female 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 307 

students. The first lady who took the degree of doctor 
of medicine in Paris was an Englishwoman. In 1868 
the number of women studying medicine in Paris was 
four; this had risen in 1878 to 32, and in 1886 to 119. 

Three women have studied law in the Paris Faculty. 
The Prussian universities still remain closed against 
women. From 1871 to 1880 the University of Leipsic 
and some of the Bavarian universities allowed women 
to attend lectures as “ free ” students, this privilege was 
afterwards withdrawn. 

The women are now knocking with such vigor and 
persistence at the doors of the German universities 
that admission can hardly be denied them much longer. 
A petition signed by more than 50,000 ladies praying 
for the removal of their academical disabilities was laid 
before the Reichstag not long ago. 

In Belgium women are admitted by law to all uni¬ 
versities, and they can graduate in any faculty they 
please. Though they are allowed to practice medicine, 
the privilege of practicing law is refused to them. Is 
it invidious to surmise that this curious anomaly is not 
wholly unconnected with the fact that in the Belgian 
legislature, as elsewhere, the legal element is strong 
enough to make it a political force to be reckoned 
with ? 

In Russia a special school of medicine for women was 
established by an imperial decree dated Aug. 2, 1890. 
A ukase was issued on Jan. 7, 1876, in response to the 
petition of a lady to be allowed to plead in a court of 
justice, forbidding the practice of the legal profession by 
women. 

In Switzerland, while there are a large number of 
female students in the universities, there are very few 


308 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


engaged in the practice of medicine. In a population 
of 3,0Q0,000 souls there are 1157 medical practitioners, 
of whom, according to M. Frank, only ten are women. 
Though women are excluded from the bar, a lady doctor 
of laws is a professor of law in the University of Zurich. 

In Italy the liberalprofessions, with the exception of 
that of law, are open to women. 

In Denmark, Norway, and Sweden women are ad¬ 
mitted to all the faculties, but are not allowed to fill 
public appointments in the service of the state. 

In Iceland they are allowed to- practice medicine, and 
they may become doctors of divinity, but the line is 
drawn at the pulpit. 

In Holland there are many women studying at the 
universities. 

In Roumania the universities of Jassy and Bucharest 
are open to them. 

In Austria-Hungary and in Spain they are absolutely 
excluded from the universities. 

In the United States there are 2000 female practi¬ 
tioners of medicine, of whom 610 are specialists in 
the diseases of their own sex, 70 are alienists, 65 or¬ 
thopaedists, 40 oculists and aurists, and 30 are electro¬ 
therapeutists. Seventy women hold appointments on 
the medical staff of hospitals and 95 are teachers in 
medical schools. Of the 2000, 130 are said to be 
homeopaths, while 580 are classified as “ allopaths.” 
What particular “ pathy ” is professed by the remainder 
is not stated. There are ten schools of medicine for 
women in the states, one of which is homeopathic. As re¬ 
gards the law, twenty-three states allow women to plead, 
and by the law of Feb. 15, 1879, they are permitted 
to practise in the supreme court of the United States. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


309 


In the English colonies the Madras Medical School 
has been open to women since 1875 ; the medical faculty 
of the University of Melbourne since 1878 ; those of 
Sydney and Wellington since 1881; that of Calcutta 
since 1883. At Toronto, in Canada, there is a special 
school of medicine for women. 

PROMOTING THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN. 

A writer on the social industrial and political position 
of women in Europe says : 

“ Since 1866, in Germany, there has been a society 
for Promoting the Employment of Women, the aim of 
which is to discover new occupations fitted for women, 
to protect their interests in those where they already 
have a footing, and to educate them for more important 
and profitable employments. Here, it was discovered, 
at the outset of the enterprise, that most women did not 
know how to work carefully, conscientiously and 
accurately, this being a result of bad education and 
habits, a condition of affairs which was finally remedied 
when the women were given methodical work, after 
having been taught to do the same. The society now 
supports in Berlin a commercial school, a drawing and 
modeling school, and a cooking school, while it gives 
instruction in washing, ironing, cutting, dressmaking, 
hand and machine sewing, the manufacture of artificial 
flowers, .and many other kinds of manual and art work. 
In one building women are taught to set type, and the 
society conducts a boarding-house for women, and a 
women’s restaurant. The society also has a shop for the 
sale of female handiwork, an intelligence-office, and a 
bank where women who want to buy sewing-machines, or 
start in business, or enlarge a business already started, 
may make loans on easy terms. Thousands of women 
have been helped by this institution, and its good work 
has led to the establishment of similar institutions in 
Bremen, Hamburg, Breslau, Brunswick, Rostock, Stettin 


310 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


and Potsdam. The Alice Society, at Darmstadt, had for 
its patron, Alice, the late Grand Duchess of Hesse. 
There are like institutions at Duseldorf, Cologne, Elber- 
field, Weisbaden, Kingsberg, Dantzic and other cities.” 

London, too, has a society for promoting the employ¬ 
ment of women. A recent report from it shows that 
sixty-nine young women have, through its influence, be^ 
gun to learn some special branch of business or some 
trade, while seventy-one have found permanent engage¬ 
ments, and 619 have been employed temporarily, half of 
this number being engaged for writing and others clerks, 
dressmakers, cooks and waitresses. The general ex¬ 
perience of the society shows that women do not con¬ 
template earning a living until want is close at hand, 
and then they decide at the very last moment to become 
nurses or lecturers. But for those who have never 
received any technical training, the city allows the 
society a sum of money for training fees. Among the 
employments which the society recommends are draw¬ 
ing for the press and chromo-lithography. There is a 
great demand for women who are both shorthand and 
typewriters, but the conditions require that they must 
have a thorough mastery of English grammar and com¬ 
position, and the majority of girls have too little educa¬ 
tion for the purpose. 

The society has found more permanent engagements 
for clerks and bookkeepers than for any other employ¬ 
ment. The wages of the rank and file of women em¬ 
ployed in the industries which minister to ordinary 
human needs are deplorably bad, and the women are 
powerless in their poverty. In the Leeds clothing trade 
a woman averages five shillings a week. The hours are 
from 8 A. M. until 6:30 p. m., and then it is some- 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


811 


times necessary to take work home and sew until mid¬ 
night. Superior workers earn only two shillings, and 
sometimes less. Report shows the conditions of women’s 
work in many of the factories worse than the wages. 
There are extortionate fines for trifling faults, and an 
almost inhuman disregard of health evinced in the rules. 

Here, as everywhere, is the proof that the miserable 
condition of working women is invariably owing to the 
deplorable fact that women will not, when young, look 
upon themselves as factors in the industrial world. 
As the report of this society says, they do not contemplate 
earning a living until want is close at hand, then, of 
course, they are unfitted for any work which commands 
living wages, and can do nothing but join ranks of 
labor of a humble character which are always over¬ 
crowded. Ignorance is responsible for the poverty of 
the world. Every girl should be made to understand 
that her future welfare and comfort depend wholly on 
her own exertions, instead of growing up in the belief 
that somebody else will look after her. Seeing this 
important truth clearly, if she would then do her best 
to acquire the best possible education, mental and 
practical,—the whole race of women would soon have 
the serpent of poverty under their feet. 

Financial Distress among women of all classes in 
England has at length led to the formation of an 
“ Emergency Society,” each member of which binds her¬ 
self to thoroughly learn some art, profession or trade, 
so that in case of necessity she will, by its exercise, be 
able to maintain herself. 


312 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


XXXI. 

THE BUSINESS FATHERHOOD OF 
EMPLOYERS. 

As a general thing the employer is not hard-hearted 
or utterly selfish. Often when he has a reputation for 
both those unlovely qualities, he is really sympathetic, 
but without the grace which enables him to make it 
known. Then, in spite of himself, he is dominated in 
dealing with his hired helpers by what he fancies is 
required of him as a business man. This is an austere 
bearing, and sometimes harsh rulings. He is sincere 
in believing this necessary. Perhaps his greatest mis¬ 
take is in keeping a rigid mental business fence about 
him all the time, in thinking that the “ business ” 'ground 
upon which he comes in contact with his work-people, 
is a piece of territory entirely outside the limits of 
human interest and sympathy. 

Without going into the intense question of all the 
responsibility he assumes when he becomes an employer, 
it is safe to say that he frequently misunderstands a 
phase of it very vital in its effect on him, his people 
and upon all society. This, for want of a better name, we 
will call his business fatherhood. Whether he recognizes 
it or not, he stands in a really paternal relation to those 
whom he employs. A neglect of his duty in this re¬ 
spect will bring its own penalty. In the mysterious 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 313 

economy of the world there are no accidents. The 
people who are gathered under his business care are 
there by divine direction, just as all things are in ex¬ 
istence by the same impulse. He owes to them the 
very best he can do for them in every particular,—not 
merely the best pay he can give them, but the most 
courtesy, kindness, respect, sympathy, good-will. He 
cannot relieve himself of this responsibility by a shrug 
of the shoulders and the words “that’s business,” when 
he commits or countenances conduct not morally up¬ 
right. His employes are not mere machines, they are 
human beings, souls, who are touching elbows with 
him on life’s journey, and for the time dependent on 
him for their comfort and happiness. He can make 
that part of their road rocky or smooth to them, by in¬ 
difference or kindness. He cannot divide himself into 
a heartless business man, a commercial Mr. Hyde, and 
be elsewhere an agreeable and respected Dr. Jekyll, 
without paying the same penalty Dr. Jekyll paid. The 
law is in operation all the time, everywhere. 

The man of fine conscience will not ignore his 
business fatherhood, because he cannot. He will not 
permit the humblest hireling to be sent away with¬ 
out a thorough investigation of the charges against 
him. He will be uninfluenced by tales which may 
have had their origin in spite or malice; and of all 
things he will not give way to temper, nor allow a 
wound to his vanity to take the bread from another’s 
mouth. His superior wisdom and position will keep 
ever in his mind the knowledge that “ As we sow, so, 
also, shall we reap,” and he will not violate the law of 
kindness for his own sake. He who recognizes his 
business fatherhood, will be rewarded with the faithful- 


314 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 


ness and love of his business children, and the prosperity 
sure to come to those who sow the seeds of kindness in 
their daily walk. 

When the employer does still more, and uses some of 
the means he has been blessed with to enhance, in the 
hours they do not give to his service, the pleasure or 
to instruct those whom he employs, he is acknowledging 
his stewardship of wealth in a manner good for the 
world and for his own soul. 

Warner Brothers, the celebrated corset manufacturers 
of Bridgeport, Connecticut, have expressed their sense 
of moral responsibility to the people they employ,—about 
1,200 women and many men—in an original manner. 

In 1887 they erected and opened a building known as 
the Warner Seaside Institute, for the free use of their 
women employes. This cost 160,000 and contains a 
reading-room and library, a large concert hall seating 
600 persons, a small hall accommodating 150, bath¬ 
rooms, restaurant, parlor, music-room, class-rooms, etc. 
—all under the care of a competent matron. 

Evening classes in music, penmanship, drawing, book¬ 
keeping, dressmaking, and millinery are taught free, 
during niUe months of the year. All expenses of 
teachers are paid by Warner Brothers. This institute 
is not sectarian. The instruction imparted there is of 
a purely educational nature, without particular religious 
bias. There is no compulsion in the plan. Employes 
are free to take advantage of the opportunities afforded, 
or not, just as they choose. About 50 per cent, accept 
them. 

The restaurant aims to provide wholesome lunches 
and meals at cost price. 

The institute is open on Sundays, but no instruction 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD. 315 

is given, the reading-room, library and restaurant 
only being used. Men have access to the library, and 
some make use of it, but the building is intended par¬ 
ticularly for women. 

The classes in dressmaking, millinery, drawing and 
painting are the most popular of all. The bath-rooms 
afford more enjoyment than any other feature of the 
building. The library is well stocked with selected 
books, new ones being constantly added; and the read¬ 
ing-room contains all the best magazines and many 
first-class daily newspapers. 

Two active clubs are in existence among the members 
of the Institute which are auxiliary to the Connecticut 
Association of working girls. 

The concert hall is supplied with a Steinway grand 
piano, and so is the music-room. The sewing-room 
contains twelve sewing-machines, free for the use of all 
members of the Institute, who can do their own sewing 
there if they wish. 

Every year the Institute is better appreciated by those 
it is designed to benefit, to whom it is of great edu¬ 
cational value. The idea was entertained by Dr. and 
Mrs. Warner from the time the factory was established; 
but did not take material shape until their business 
grew great enough to warrant their undertaking it. It 
is the purpose of Warner Brothers to ultimately endow 
this Institute, and turn it over to a board of trustees for 
the permanent use of working women. 

In the mean time they are solving the problem of how 
it can be managed to accomplish the greatest good. 

As a practical expression of sympathy and the fra¬ 
ternal spirit on the part of employers to employed, this 
Institute is a pioneer. Only one other of similar aims 


316 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WORLD . 


I believe, exists in this country, and that is in Illinois, 
and is for the use of men, belonging to a business firm 
which employs only men. 

The Warner Brothers consider the Institute a re¬ 
ciprocal service they render to those who serve them. 
It is, in short, one form of co-operation, and is the begin¬ 
ning of a new day in the business world, when the inter¬ 
ests of the employer and employed shall be clearly seen 
by both to be the same; and when a warm, human 
interest shall bring all classes into sympathetic touch. 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD . 


317 


YOU ARE THE MASTERS OF YOUR FATE. 

Now, my final message to you who need to abolish 
poverty is to read and adopt for a precept of daily life 
the quotation I use on the title-page of this book, to 
be thankful for your unconquerable souls,—to re¬ 
member that you are the masters of your own fate. 

To all I would say, shirk not your own personal 
responsibility; wait not for another to speak and act for 
you; call upon your own strength and it will appear, for 
your strength is closely allied to the infinite strength 
which is exhaustless and all-powerful. Assert your own 
power, for power dwells in each one of you, and appears 
when you make a demand upon it. If called upon in 
confidence again and again, it develops until nothing 
can daunt you. The more confidence you place in your 
own will the more power will you have. Do not 
acknowledge that failure is possible, and it will keep 
far from you. Before the assertion of the immortal, 
unconquerable self within you, all obstacles go down. 

When you do this, you shall know no more fear. A 
friend, writing me of another friend, says : “ I wish you 
could see as I do the absolute fearlessness of her life, 
and how everything good comes to her since she has 
cast off all fear and anxiety.” 

A great lesson is to be learned from that, if you would 
but heed it. What is fearlessness but perfect trust? 
When we can fully realize the divinity within us, the 
unconquerable part of us, and lean upon it, we shall 


WOMEN IN THE BUSINESS WOULD. 


318 

know fear no more forever, neither shall we know 
poverty, nor any other evil. 

In asserting yourselves, however, remember that the 
combative spirit must be avoided. There are other 
persons in the world, each with the same rights as your¬ 
selves, and these rights must be sacredly respected. 
The self-assertion that commands power is calm, con¬ 
fident, and gentle in its bearing to others. When 
obstacles appear vanquish them, not by fighting, but by 
calmly, persistently refusing to recognize them. 

Many have forgotten that the surest and also the 
simplest key to fortune was given'to us by Jesus of 
Nazareth: “ Seek ye first the kingdom of righteousness 
(which is within you) and all these things shall be 
added unto you.” 

“ The people have gone into bondage because they have 
no knowledge,” says one of the wise. Knowledge of 
yourselves, of your own invincible powers will set you 
free from every thrall. “ I, Freedom, abide with knowl¬ 
edge.” 

“ I am the Master of my Fate.” 


THE END. 


V.: r ■ : • 


INDEX 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTION. 9 

SELF-SALVATION. 11 

WOMEN’S GREATEST NEED. 20 

FINDING ONE’S TRUE CALLING. 26 

TRAINING AND EFFICIENCY. 34 

PERVERTED PRIDE. 42 

THE ROAD TO SUCCESS. 48 

BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY. 54 

LET YOUR INTENTIONS BE KNOWN . 54 

THE PHILOSOPHY OF WAITING. 54 

OVERCOMING DISHEARTENING OBSTACLES . 56 


CONDENSED COMMERCIAL WISDOM. 

BUILD UP YOUR BUSINESS. 

CO-OPERATION. 

AN EVEN SEA. 

LITTLE KEYS TO FORTUNE. 

SELF DENIAL. 

THE TIME TO SAVE. 

WHAT CONSTITUTES ECONOMY. 

women’s business sense. 

THE BUSINESS ARMOR. 

KEEPING BUSINESS HOURS AND APPOINTMENTS.. 

THINGS NECESSARY TO KNOW. 

WIVES UNDERSTANDING THEIR HUSBANDS’ BUSINESS. . . . 

LEARNING BUSINESS METHODS. 

INSTRUCTING CHILDREN IN BUSINESS METHODS. 

LAWS IN THE BUSINESS WORLD-'. 

IMPORTANT POINTS. 

BUSINESS LETTERS. 

LEGIBLE HANDWRITING. 

PUSHING YOUR BUSINESS. 

DON’T MAKE YOUR OWN CLOTHES. 

THE BUSINESS WOMAN’S DRESS. 

HELPERS AND HINDERERS. 

WEALTHY WORKERS. 

NEVER TOO LATE TO BEGIN. 

CRIMINAL HELPLESSNESS. 

UNOCCUPIED WOMEN. 


64 

64 

67 

70 

72 

72 

74 

75 
79 
81 
82 

84 

84 

86 

87 

87 

92 

92 

94 

95 
99 

100 

105 

105 

106 
108 
110 








































320 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

THE SEED OF WEALTH. 112 

ECONOMIC BLUNDERS AND BENEFITS. 118 

OVERCROWDED PROFESSIONS. 118 

MISFITS IN PRODUCTION. 120 

ASKING FOR WORK. 121 

FINDING NEW INDUSTRIES. 123 

SHE CAN DO WHAT SHE WILL. 124 

DON’T TALK ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS. 124 

EARLY BIRD WISDOM. 126 

A STORY AND A SERMON. 128 

POLITENESS PAYS. 128 

ALL DOORS WILL ADMIT YOU. 131 

SAYING AND DOING. 134 

THE POTENCY OF FAITH. 134 

THE INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION OF THE FUTURE. 135 

DON’T WATCH THE CLOCK. 136 

WOMAN AS A CONSERVATIVE FACTOR. 137 

THE ALLUREMENTS OF SCIENCE. 140 

WOMEN IN MEDICINE. 140 

IN DENTAL SUDGERY. 143 

WOMEN PHARMACISTS. 145 

WOMEN MATHEMATICIANS. 147 

THE LIBERAL ARTS. 150 

APPLIED DESIGN. 150 

DECORATIVE ART. 151 

PRACTICAL PAINTING.. . . 152 

PHOTOGRAPHY.. 153 

CAMEO CARVING. 155 

ARCHITECTURE. 156 

PIANO AND ORGAN TUNING. 157 

THE WRITTEN WORD. 159 

NOVEL WRITING. 159 

NEWSPAPER WORK. 160 

NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION. 162 

ADVERTISING. 163 

THE PUBLISHING BUSINESS. 164 

BOOK AGENTS. 165 

WHERE THERE IS ROOM FOR MORE. 168 

IN THE PULPIT. 168 

KINDERGARTEN WORK. 171 

THE LAW. 172 

PRACTICAL LECTURES. 175 

PIONEER LECTURERS. 176 

MUSICIANS. 178 














































INDEX. 


321 


PAGE 


SOME NEW AND OLD OCCUPATIONS. 180 

EDUCATORS OF THE NEGLECTED. 180 

WOMEN AS EXPERTS. 181 

INVENTION. 181 

BANKING. 182 

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING. 182 

SIMPLE PRINCIPLES PUT IN PRACTICE. 183 

PACKING TRUNKS. 183 

COSTUMING. 184 

MANICURES. 185 

HAIR CUTTING AND DRESSING. 185 

INVENTING A BUSINESS. 186 

AN ORIGINAL COUGH CURE. 187 

BEAUTIFIERS. 188 

JEWELERS . 189 

BOX MAKING. 189 

LITTLE THINGS TO DO. 189 

MAKING ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS. 190 

FEATHER CURLING . 191 

M AK ING RUBBER SHOES. 191 

MAKING NECK-SCARFS. 191 

GIVING LESSONS ON SEWING MACHINE. 191 

EXPRESS MESSENGERS. 191 

OPERATING STAGE LINES. 192 

IN DOLLDOM. 192 

DRESSING DOLLS. 194 

PRESSING DRESSES. 193 

CARING FOR OTHERS. 195 

THE CHAPERONE. 195 

TRAINED NURSES. 195 

ATTENDANTS FOR THE HELPLESS. 197 

MATRONS. 198 


BEHIND THE COUNTER 

SALESMEN. 

CASHIERS. 


200 

200 

206 


EXAMPLES OF SUCCESS IN HORTICULTURE. 20S 


HOP FARMING. 

GRAFTING AND BUDDING. 

TUBE-ROSES AND COTTON. 

RAISING BERRIES. 

FRUIT FARMING. 

GENERAL FARMING... 

SURPLUS OF THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. 

THE LITTLE PATCH OF GROUND. 

RAISING CELERY. 

HOW A WOMAN MADE HALF A MILLION DOLLARS 

GARDENING. 

“ COME SOUTH, YOUNG WOMAN ”. 

VIOLETS, SWEET VIOLETS. 


212 

212 

212 

213 

214 
214 

217 

218 
219 
219 
219 
223 
225 



















































322 


INDEX. 


v) 

1 

j. »l 

t'J . PAGE 

COUNTRY HOME INDUSTRIES. 228 

POULTRY RAISING. 228 

ONE GIRL’S EFFORT. 232 

BEE-KEEPING. 233 

DAIRYING. 236 

SILK CULTURE. 237 

HOME FRUIT PRESERVING. 238 

BREAKING ROUGH GROUND. 242 

WOMEN HOMESTEADERS IN NEBRASKA. 242 

STORY OF TWO HOMESTEADERS. 244 

DAILY BREAD. 250 

VIENNA KITCHENS. 250 

travelers’ luncheons . 251 

SUPPLYING COOKED FOOD. 254 

OPERATING BAKERIES. 254 

GROCERIES. 257 

COOKING SCHOOLS. 257 

woman’s exchanges . 258 

SPECIAL FOOD FOR INVALIDS. 260 

WOMAN’S HISTORIC WEAPON—THE NEEDLE. 264 

HEAD-WEAR AND ITS OPPORTUNITIES. 268 

LACE MAKING. 271 

WITHIN THE HOME. 273 

HOME-MAKING. 273 

HOUSE-KEEPING SCHOOLS. 275 

HOUSEKEEPING. 275 

A RETURN TO DESERTED PATHS. ( .. 279 

THE WORD THAT KILLS. V 282 

DISPENSING WITH INFERIORS. 284 

A CO-OPERATIVE HOUSEHOLD. 285 

THREE REASONS WHY.;. 286 

HOW TO KEEP BOARDERS. 287 

THE BENEFICENCE OF LABOR. 293 

CHEERING FACTS.:. 294 

BUSINESS WOMEN’S CLUBS. 294 

CO-OPERATIVE RAISIN-GROWING. 294 

ANOTHER STORY OF SUCCESSFUL CO-OPERATION. 297 

VOICES AT HOME AND ABROAD. 300 

PERTINENT PARAGRAPHS. 305 

UNIVERSITIES OPEN TO WOMEN. 306 

PROMOTING THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN.. . 309 

THE FATHERHOOD OF EMPLOYERS ..312 

YOU ARE THE MASTERS OF YOUR FATE. 317 













































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